The War of South Park Elementary
by Scout-Is-Delicious
Summary: School shootings start a war between the 4th and 6th graders, so the boys gather a 4th grade army. And as war breaks out, an evil spirit inside Kyle is being revealed, and will cause a war far greater than ever imaginable. Chapter 19 up
1. The Sound of Gunfire

Stan and Kyle were walking down the hallway of the school, their books in their arms, ready for class.

"So, Kyle," Stan said after a long pause. "What do you think of the new girl?"

Kyle's cheeks turned bright pink. There had been a new girl at South Park Elementary, and the moment Kyle saw her, he'd liked her.

"Well…" he began. "I haven't really… you know, talked to her at all, so… I don't know her very well…"

Stan let a knowing expression form on his face. Kyle was a bad liar, and they both knew it. "So, you like her."

"Shh!!" Kyle put a free finger to his friend's lips. "Keep it down! If Cartman finds out, he'll totally tell her." He peered around, blowing his long red bangs away from his left eye, making sure Cartman wasn't anywhere within hearing distance.

Stan pushed Kyle's finger away. "Dude, don't worry. I won't tell anyone—especially Cartman. Besides, I wouldn't doubt the fact that she might like you back."

Kyle swung a twisted yet hopeful look at his friend. "You… you think so?"

"Duh! It's like, so obvious. She always looks at you in class," Stan said, positioning his books so that the corners weren't digging into his ribs.

"Thanks, dude," Kyle gave Stan a nudge with his fist, then regained his composure after nearly dropping his history book. "So, how's Kenny doing?"

Stan shrugged. Kenny's dad had been in a car accident and was in the hospital. Kenny was now an emotional wreck and hadn't been at school for the last few days, and the only on who had seen him lately was Stan. "He's… not doing too well… He won't eat or sleep or anything. And his dad is having surgery this afternoon, so I'll check up on him then."

"Oh…" Kyle couldn't say anything else. He felt really bad for Kenny, but because his family was having problems of their own, he couldn't go see the McCormicks.

"What about you?" Stan said, breaking Kyle's train of thought. "Has your mom cooled off yet?"

Kyle's stomach turned over. "Well… Mom went to live with my aunt for a while. Dad's locked himself in his room and won't come out at all. I don't know what's gonna happen."

Stan was about to say something when there was a loud sound like thunder, then a scream that pierced the air, and a thud on the floor. The boys whirled around to see a body on the ground.


	2. Butters and the Bathroom

It was a boy's body. Kyle didn't know who it was, but he knew it was a sixth grader. _Wait_, he thought. _Who would be so stupid as to shoot a sixth grader_? Then a horrible realization hit him. Recently, Butters had become an emo because his mom committed suicide. He was talking to Cartman about a shooting, but being the fatass that he was, Cartman thought that sweet, innocent, now-emo Butters was just kidding, and he laughed the whole thing up.

Stan and Kyle approached the body as a crowd began to form along with them. Blood ran along the floor, and kids gapped themselves to avoid the stream.

"Out of my way! MOVE!" Mrs. Garrison shoved through the swarm of students and knelt down to examine the body. "All right, now nobody panic. Just return to your classrooms in an orderly fashion."

"Orderly!?" cried Bebe. "Someone just got shot! You want us to be _orderly_?!"

"Yeah!" came the shouts of agreement from the crowd. Soon everyone was screaming out of fear and excitement.

And while the commotion was flaring, Kyle slipped away and ran into the boys' bathroom.

"BUTTERS!!!" he shouted.

"So you knew it was me, huh?" said a gritty, throaty voice.

"Duh. Cartman told me about your plans to start a shooting. But of all people, you shot a sixth grader?!? What the hell were you thinking? You know sixth graders hold tight grudges!"

"Maybe so… but they'll never know it was me… after all, who would suspect poor, innocent, shy little Butters of murdering a big kid?" A sly smile spread across Butters' pale face. "No one… except you, Kyle. And now that you know the truth, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you, too." He pulled out a pocket knife and ran his finger along the blade.

Kyle backed up until his back touched against the wall. _I'm afraid of Butters_, he said to himself. _Wow. I've reached an all-time low_.

Butters neared Kyle, pretending to cut his own throat with the knife.

Then, as if on cue, Stan swung open the bathroom door. "Kyle?" he said, but stopped short when he saw his friend against the wall and the Emo with the knife. "Butters? What the hell are you doing?"

"Stay back, or I kill you along with this stupid Jew!" Butters held the blade up to Stan's neck.

Kyle didn't know what happened next, for it was all a blur. He tightened his fingers into a fist, then swung out at Butters. The blow hit the Emo right in the nose, and he dropped the knife and fell against one of the stalls.

Stan gaped at Butters, then at Kyle.

The red-head stood, his arm still outstretched, breathing heavily. His expression softened as he uncurled his fingers and glanced over at Stan. When he realized what he had done, he gasped and stared at his hand, which was spattered with drops of blood from Butters' nose.

"Kyle, you—you socked Butters," Stan said shakily.

Kyle didn't know what had come over him. It was almost as if his arm had swung on its own.


	3. Broken Hearts

That night, Kyle was sitting alone at the dinner table, poking at a clump of mashed potatoes. Ike was in the other room watching _The Lion King_, yelling out "Simba!" whenever there was a scene about the young lion.

Their dad had been in the bathroom all day, crying, and he still was, so Kyle had made supper for himself and poured a bowl of cereal for Ike.

Kyle was deep in thought about what had happened with Butters earlier that day. He didn't even mean to sock him. He wondered what could've possibly driven him to do that.

Just when he had a long moment of peace, Sheila burst in the door, looking quite confident.

"Mommy!" came Ike's cheerful voice. He hobbled over to his mother and reached for her to pick him up, but she just brushed right past him and swaggered over to the kitchen.

"Hi, mom," Kyle said. But Sheila didn't answer. She was busy shoving things into her purse and humming to herself. "Mom?"

"Oh, hello, Kyle," she said, waving a hand but not looking away from her purse. When she was done, she bustled to her room and shut the door behind her.

_What's with her?_ Kyle asked himself.

After about an hour, Sheila came out of her room with three heavy-looking suitcases (a/n: you can probably guess what's going to happen). She was still humming, but had changed her tune to a Beatles' song.

Kyle's face went pale when he saw the baggage. "Um…" he choked out. "Wh-where are you going?"

Again, Sheila didn't answer. She left her suitcases by the wall and went and knocked on the bathroom door. "Honey? Open the door, I have some news for you."

There was a sob, and then the door opened a crack. "Who is it?" said a shaky voice.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Sheila slammed the door open and stormed inside.

Kyle got up and listened from around the corner. He heard paper shuffling, and only a few words being spoken. There was a scream from his father, then everything went up in yelling. By then Kyle knew what was going to happen. And it was ripping his heart out.

Ten minutes went by, and Sheila emerged from the bathroom. She had the biggest grin on her face that Kyle had ever seen. A few sheets of paper, stapled together, were in her left hand. She shoved them into one of her suitcases, then took all the luggage and went right out the door without a word.

Kyle didn't have to ask himself why tears were falling down his face. Or why his dad was crying even harder now. He knew.

His parents were divorced.

"Simba," Ike walked up and tugged at Kyle's sleeve. "C'mon, watch Simba."

"Not now, Ike," Kyle said to his brother.

"Simba!" Ike repeated, a hint of irritability in his voice.

"No, Ike,"

"Kyle, Simba! Simba's on!" Ike stomped his foot on the floor.

"SHUT UP!" Kyle whirled around and swung his arm. There was a sound like a whip cracking, and Ike fell back onto his rear end, a red mark forming on his cheek. His bottom lip quivered, and his eyes were tearing up. Soon he burst out bawling and ran to his room.

Kyle stared at his hand in horror. The same hand that had socked Butters. But Butters had threatened him. Ike was only being a little kid. And Kyle had assaulted him.

"Ike! I'm sorry!"

However, a dark voice in the back of his head was saying,

"_No, you're not sorry,_"

**well, what do u think? I just got the idea for the story today and I already have 3 chapters done. I want to thank my first reviewer- Hiphop618- for my first review. :) well ill try to update as soon as I can cuz im not home for most of the day so plz be patient. btw, I dont know how divorce actually works, so if I left something out, I didn't mean to. ok i'll shut up now **


	4. Feelings Unexplained

"Dude. Harsh," Stan said the next morning at the bus stop after Kyle told him about his parents and Ike. "And you didn't mean to hit him?"

"Hell, no," Kyle said. "It was like my arm had a mind of its own. Just like yesterday, with Butters." He buried his face in his mittens. "I don't know what's wrong with me, Stan."

Stan tried to say something, but Cartman swaggered up casually as usual.

"What's going on guys?" he asked.

"Kyle's parents got divorced," Stan answered for him.

"Oh, I see. I kinda know how that works," Cartman said. "Don't worry, Jew. Things will get better eventually. Heh heh… maybe."

"Cartman, shut up!" Stan shouted. He could tell that Kyle was getting angry, for his shoulders were hunching up.

"Aw, come on, Stan," Cartman laughed. "I have to deal with only one parent, so why can't Kyle? Besides, his mom _is_ a stupid bitch."

Before Stan could blink, Kyle lunged at Cartman and they fell to the ground fighting. It began with Kyle's right hand forming a fist and slugging Cartman across the face, then everything else was a mess.

Stan quickly reached down and strained to pull Kyle off of Cartman. "Calm down, dude! Kyle, stop it!"

Kyle was still flailing, kicking out at the fat boy on the ground. He pushed at Stan's arms, trying to free himself so he could attack again.

Cartman rubbed his lip and saw blood on his glove. "What the hell is wrong with you, Kyle!?!" With great effort, he heaved himself to his feet and stood silent.

Kyle finally stopped punching the air, and Stan released him. He swallowed hard when he saw Cartman in the condition that he was now in. "Stan…" he said softly. "What just happened?"

"I don't know, Kyle," Stan said in a hushed voice. "But you definitely weren't yourself just now."

Once at school, Kyle sat down in his desk next to Stan and in front of Cartman. But Cartman wouldn't talk to him at all.

Just when Kyle thought the day would get worse, the new girl walked in. Immediately, he forgot about everything that had happened within the past twenty-four hours.

The new girl went to her desk and sat down without a word. She opened a notebook and began to draw something. Kyle looked over to see what the drawing was.

At first, it looked like a cockerel. But when it was finished, he made out the body shape of a mythical bird, the Phoenix.

The girl noticed him looking and she glanced his way. "Hi," she said to him.

Kyle snapped out of it and looked right at her. His shy side then began to take effect. "Hi… I'm… I'm Kyle…"

The girl smiled. "I'm Danuba. Yeah, it's a weird name, I know."

"No, it isn't," Kyle said defensively. "I think it's a nice name."

Danuba smiled again. "Thanks," she said. "So… you like this drawing?" She held up the notebook.

"It's really good," Kyle told her, marveling at the sketch. "Are you this good at all drawings or just a Phoenix?" He felt as though he said something wrong, for Danuba raised her eyebrow and looked long and hard at the picture.

"Well, not everything," she finally said. "Some things I attempt, but they don't turn out as I planned." She laughed a bit. "But I really like drawing people. That's how I remember my friends at my old school." She put the notebook away and opened up a different one. "See here? This is my friend Allison. She is so funny. She loves rabbits, so I drew her holding a bunny."

Kyle looked at the sketch carefully, scanning the dark pencil lines that made up the girl in the picture. She had a smile on her face, like a thin string spread out and curved in a semicircle. A small long-eared creature was cradled in her arms, staring off into a different direction.

Before he could say anything, Danuba turned the page and revealed another drawing. "This is my other friend Sam. She got her hair cut before I moved and she showed me. It used to be really long but now it's short and curly."

The girl in the drawing had her one hand on her hip and had a cross in the other hand, and she was standing in almost a modeling pose.

"Those are really good," Kyle said as Danuba closed the notebook.

"That's not all of them, but just the ones I thought were the best," she told him.

Kyle just knew that the others would be good, too. But he didn't ask to see them. He knew she was shy about them. One thing was for sure—he thought she was amazing.

**okay i added a romantic twist to make it a little interesting before the war starts. i know it kinda seems like im updating pretty quickly, but like i said—im not home most of the day, so i dont expect them to be too frequent. well okay! review if you want to :)**


	5. Kenny Unhooded and a Plan Hatched

Police had showed up at the school a few days after the shooting (a/n: you know South Park—no one really gives a crap about death until after it happens and, well… nevermind, you get the point). They would roam the hallways, checking backpacks for weapons or anything else of suspicion.

Kyle had been deep in thought lately. Everyone around him seemed to be having problems—primarily himself. _Almost everyone_, he realized. He thought of Danuba and smiled. She didn't seem to have any problems, any flaws. At least, not to him. She always seemed so calm, so serene. Even during the shooting, she was concerned, but not too worried.

The next day, to everyone's surprise, Kenny walked in the door of the classroom. And he wasn't wearing his hood up.

Kyle was out of his seat immediately and running up to his friend.

"How's your dad, Kenny?" he asked.

Kenny looked up at Kyle sullenly. His normally bright brown eyes were cloudy and grey with sorrow. "Um…"

Kyle was so used to Kenny's mumbles that he almost forgot what his actual voice sounded like. He listened attentively for the next few sentences that would pass Kenny's lips.

Kenny swallowed hard. "Well… the surgery wore him down quite a bit. He was really woozy when we last saw him and he could barely speak to us. He has some problems with his spinal cord right now, and he has to have it looked at by some specialists. We don't know when or where they'll do that, though."

"Is your mom okay?"

"Ugh… even dad looked better than her. She's been ranting on about the other driver was driving careless and that this all could've been avoided if the he would've 'actually watched the road'."

Kyle didn't exactly know what that meant, but he knew Kenny's mom was blaming the other driver and not thinking about how her husband may have had something to do with the accident. Another concern that she should consider is the medical costs. As everyone knew, Kenny definitely didn't have the richest of families. How did Mrs. McCormick expect to pay for the med bill? None of them had insurance. What would happen then?

Kyle put his hands in his pockets, and then felt something thin and papery. He pulled the item out and found that it was a fifty-dollar bill that he'd gotten for his birthday but forgot to take out from his pocket. "Here, Kenny," he said, handing the money to his friend.

Kenny looked at the dollar, then at Kyle. "What's this for?"

"Your dad's medical fees," Kyle answered. "Yeah, I know it isn't near as much as you'll need, but it can get you started."

Kenny pushed his blond bangs away from his forehead and, hands shaking, took the money from Kyle. Then, without warning, he threw his arms around him.

Kyle was taken aback by Kenny's drastic form of a thank-you, but he returned the hug.

"Man, you don't know how much this means to me," Kenny whispered. He released his friend, shoved the money in his pocket, then took his seat.

Then Stan came running up to Kyle. The expression on his face worried him.

"There was another shooting. Another sixth grader. Over by the bathrooms. Hurry!" He grabbed the sleeve of Kyle's orange jacket and pulled him out of the room.

Once again, a crowd formed around the body of the assaulted student. Panicked shouts came from everyone there, especially the first and second graders. Mr. Mackey was there immediately.

"M'kay, this is serious, students," he said. "If you have any information on the possible assailant, please tell your teacher, Principal Victoria, or myself. Now get back to your classrooms." The crowd dispersed as the police officers appeared on the scene.

Kyle was following Stan when he overheard a group of sixth graders.

"…that does it. First Daniel, now Mason. We are gonna find out who did this and whoever they are is going down… sixth grade style. Get every boy in our grade to meet under the bleachers on the football field after school."

Kyle froze. If it had been Butters again who had shot, they would surely launch an attack on the entire fourth grade. As he turned to catch up with Stan, he saw a shadowy figure running out of the school, the dark, sun-glinted silhouette of a rifle in its hands. But the figure's hair was too messy to be Butters'. It could only be one other person.

Tweek.

**nice plot twist, huh? i don't know why I decided to make Tweek the second shooter. i guess cuz he is another timid character and, well… yeah. anyway, i'll try to update ASAP. thanx for reading and plz review. :)**


	6. This Means War

After school, a huge crowd of sixth grade boys had gathered beneath the bleachers of the football field, shouts of anger erupting from all of them.

Kyle snuck around one side of the field and hid behind a pair of plastic trashcans, praying that the sixth graders wouldn't see him.

"Okay, listen up!" said one of the big kids. He appeared to be the leader. "Two of our fellow sixth graders have been shot and killed. Now the first shooter happened to get away. But the one who shot Mason was kind enough to show himself... heh heh, well, kind of… Dontei, show us the little shmuck."

The group of boys spread themselves apart as another boy, almost twice the size of Kyle, made his way up to the leader. He was dragging a smaller kid with tangled, crazy-looking blond hair.

"Guys," said the leader. "This is the kid responsible for the death of our good friend, Mason Nelson…" All the boys jeered and booed. "What's your name, shmuck-bag?"

Tweek was shuddering madly, even more than usual. "T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-tweek…"

Kyle peered around one of the cans at the gathering. He watched as some boys began hitting Tweek and yelling at him and calling him a series of bad names. But then Kyle felt the annoyingly familiar feeling of a full bladder. _Damn it! Not now_! He pressed his legs together and tried to focus on the sixth graders' plans.

"So, Twinkie, what grade are you in?" the leader said, nearing Tweek menacingly.

_Don't answer_, Kyle prayed. If the sixth graders found out what grade Tweek was in, they'd attack full-force. _Don't tell them!_

"F-f-f-f-fourth grade…" Tweek said shakily.

_No, no! Damn you, Tweek!_ Kyle put a hand to his forehead. _We are so dead!_

"Ya hear that, boys?" The leader stood up. "He's a wimpy little fourth grader! And you know what that means?"

All the sixth graders yelled random things.

"That's right," said the leader. "It means WAR!"

Kyle squeezed his legs together even harder. _Son of a bitch! I can't take this much longer! _

"Get him, guys!" cried the leader.

The sixth graders all attacked Tweek at one time. They yelled and cussed at him as they beat him senseless.

After a while, the leader made them stop. He bent down beside battered Tweek and whispered deviously in his ear, "Because of you, your pitiful little grade will be blown to hell in the biggest war in South Park history. Go tell your friends to round up an army. Not like you'll need one—we'll destroy you anyway."

Kyle's bladder was full to bursting. But he couldn't move until the meeting was dispersed. _Please! Please let it end soon!_

"You run along home now, faggot," said the leader. He turned to the crowd. "Boys, let's go! We have to prepare for the war!"

And with that, the sixth graders followed him away, once again yelling and swearing.

Tweek stood up wearily and began limping home.

"Oh no," Kyle said to himself. "I gotta tell Stan!" He leapt to his feet and ran down the street to his friend's house.

**yeah, i changed the category to fantasy cuz i had the idea for something that doesnt exactly fall into realism :) anyway... chapter 7 coming soon! plz review!**


	7. Meeting in the Secret Room

When Stan heard frantic knocking at his door, he raced to answer it. He swung it open only to see Kyle there, jittering and panting. His red bangs and his freckled face were wet and shiny with sweat.

"Hey, dude," Stan said. "What's with you?"

Kyle tried to catch his breath. "Can I… use your… bathroom…?" he breathed.

"Uh… sure,"

Kyle clasped his hands together and shook them up and down, mouthing the words, "Thank you". He rushed right past Stan and into the nearest bathroom.

Stan waited impatiently outside the door as Kyle relieved himself. After about two minutes, he heard the toilet flush, and Kyle came out, pulling up the zipper of his pants.

"Is that all you came for?" Stan asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

A look of 'oh my god, I just remembered' formed on Kyle's face. He slapped himself and said, "Shit! No, I have to tell you—the sixth graders are gonna start a war against the whole fourth grade because they found out that Tweek was the second shooter! We have to tell the others! If we don't, we are so dead!"

Stan's face had turned pale after the part about war. He gaped at Kyle for a moment, but then he snapped out of it and said, "Tomorrow, we'll let them know,"

The next day, Stan and Kyle rallied up every boy in fourth grade and met in the gym after school.

"Guys," Stan began slowly. "The sixth graders have declared war against us because of the recent shootings which just so happened to be caused by a fellow fourth grader… not to name any names… TWEEK…" He pretended to cough. "So we need to build an army… and you guys are it…"

The boys all glanced at each other, then back up at Stan and Kyle.

"Now, we all remember what happened during the last school war…" Stan said. "We got our asses kicked." There was a war when the boys were in second grade between them and the third graders. They had lost. Big time. "And we won't let that happen this time. This time, we are gonna win. To the secret room!"

The Secret Room was a small abandoned warehouse that jutted out from the rest of the school. It had been built as a storm shelter, but had never been used due to, well… lack of dangerous weather. No one could get in because it was off-limits, for one thing, and for another, cold temperatures had kept the door frozen shut (a/n: the only door is on the outside of the building instead of it being accessible from inside the school. stupid architects! okay, im done.).

Stan led the others to the warehouse and slowly inched along the wall. They had a special entrance to get inside, but the trouble was finding it.

"Hurry up, Stan…" said Kyle, glancing around nervously. He lowered his voice, "…before they see us!"

Stan felt along the brick, then a look of 'found it' formed on his face. "Okay, I found the vent." He pressed against a loose iron plate, and began crawling through the hole. The other fourth graders followed.

Once inside, they gathered in a circle with Stan and Kyle in the center.

"Now, we all know the sixth graders are older, stronger, smarter, more cunning, more experienced, more--" Stan stopped when Kyle gave him a hard nudge in the ribs. "Well, anyway… basically, they are better than us. But we outnumber them! If we attack in larger groups, I think we can overtake them. Now we need to choose our weapons. Kyle, take one group to the 'gun' area, and I'll take the other group to the 'sword and other miscellaneous and random stuff' area."

The two groups split up, following their two leaders. Stan helped half of the fourth graders choose from swords, flails, maces, daggers, and other weapons that they for some reason kept in the Secret Room. Kyle took the rest of the fourth grade choose from machine guns, miniguns, handguns, shotguns, snipers, rifles, and many more unnamable guns that I'm not going to take the time to name. Finally the two groups met up in the main room, and Stan and Kyle stepped up again in front of the rest of the kids.

"Has everyone found a weapon that feels good to handle and that you can actually use to kick some ass?" Stan said.

"YEAH!" cried the fourth graders.

"THEN LET'S SEND THEM SIXTH GRADERS CRYING BACK TO THEIR FAT, WHOREY MAMAS!" yelled Kyle.

"YEAH!" said the fourth graders again. And they cheered loudly, not knowing that this battle was going to be longer and harder than they would ever imagine.


	8. From Good to Bad

All the boys hid their weapons in their lockers, just waiting for the war to break out so they would have a chance to defeat the sixth graders. Of course no one really talked to Butters or Tweek considering they were the ones who started the whole thing. In fact, since the sixth graders had discovered Tweek, the blonde had received eight weeks of detention and a trip to juvie, courtesy of Mrs. Garrison.

Kyle hadn't near forgotten anything that had happened in that past week. His mother leaving, and the divorce contract being approved; him destroying his friendship (or what was barely considered a friendship) with Cartman, what with the whole fighting episode; and the two shootings and an entire war that had brewed in less than a day thanks to the psychopaths that had fired their guns. In fact, Kyle was having a hard time trying to forget everything. But then again, he needn't put himself through the trouble—Danuba could do that for him.

"Hey, Kyle," she said as she walked up to him that same afternoon.

Kyle whirled around and slammed his locker door shut, flashing her a meek and embarrassed smile. "H-hey Danuba…"

She raised her eyebrow and put her hands on her hips, "You know, I'm surprised you haven't made fun of my name yet." She smirked at him.

"Why would I?" Kyle said almost defensively. "Your name is one of the coolest I've ever heard. Are you named after the song?"

"You mean, 'On the Beautiful Blue Danube'? Yeah, partly…" She closed her eyes and smiled. "I can still hear my dad playing it on his violin…" She took a deep breath and then exhaled through her nose, then opened her eyes again. "I was also named for the river, which is pretty much what the song is about. But the point is… my dad is gone, and he loved that song. He would always take me and my mom to France, just to take a boat down that river… It was the most beautiful river I'd ever seen. But one day my dad passed away. And after that happened, I never saw the river again…"

"I'm so sorry…" Kyle said somberly.

Danuba smiled, "It's okay. I'm fine, now. Hey, that reminds me! You wanna come to my softball game this afternoon? It's at three-thirty, right after school over on the school's field."

"Sure!" Kyle felt his heart pounding. He tried to hide his blushing, though he wasn't quite succeeding.

"Awesome! Thank you so much!" She gave him a quick hug, then raced off down the hall.

Kyle just stood there, a grin forming on his face. He had a date…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

That afternoon, Kyle sat down on the bleachers in the baseball field behind the school, anticipating a good game from Danuba's team. She came up to him right before they started and said, "Hey, dude. Thanks for showing up!"

"No problem," he said back.

And then she left for the game to start.

Before Kyle knew it, the game was halfway over. He looked down and saw that Danuba was up again. He couldn't control himself, and wound up yelling, "Go, Danuba!"

She looked up at him and smiled, then put on her helmet and stood before home plate, holding the bat behind her. The pitcher threw, and Danuba swung _hard_. She got a strike, but nearly hit the catcher on the backswing.

The second pitch. Another strike.

Kyle grew worried. What is she doing?

Then came the third throw, and Danuba swung just in time to slam a line drive into center field. And she went running around the bases, narrowly sliding home before the catcher got a chance to tag her.

"Nice!" Kyle said, jumping up along with the rest of the crowd.

But the cheering was interrupted by an ear-piercing battle cry.

"What is that?" asked one person.

Kyle swung a glance up at the school and saw a huge group of battle-ready sixth graders, lined up and ready to fight. Their leader bellowed another cry and signaled the rest of them to charge.

"Not now…" he whispered.

"Hey, girls!" said Bebe, who happened to be on Danuba's softball team. "Grab a bat and let's teach those sixth graders not to interrupt our game!"

"YEAH!" agreed the rest of the team.

Just as the sixth graders reached the field, and most of the people in the bleachers had run away screaming, Bebe led the girls to battle.

Kyle just watched, horrified.

"What happened, dude?" Stan came up behind him and stared at the commotion. "Hey, they can't do that! School battles are only allowed to take place during school hours!"

"Where did you hear that?"

"'The Book of School Combat',"

Kyle looked at him. "No comment."

They turned around just in time to see Danuba knock the teeth out of a sixth grader's mouth with a Louisville Slugger. But then they heard another cry, this one belonging to their own team.

The fourth graders.

Led by Kenneth McCormick, the army charged at the site of the battle, carrying large, club-sized branches (well, because their swords and stuff were in their lockers). The fourth grade squadron slammed into the rest of the rage, swinging their "weapons" at the enemies. But the sixth graders had better weapons, considering that they were the ones who launched the attack. They had their swords and bows and arrows and stuff.

The girls, however, had their big metal bats at hand. Danuba swung hard in the same way that she had when she hit the homerun and wound up knocking a lot of the sixth graders unconscious. She and her purple Louisville Slugger were the perfect combination.

"Look at her kick ass!" Kyle said to Stan.

"Who, Bebe? Yeah, I guess."

"No, not Bebe! I'm talking about Danuba!"

Then Kyle leapt off the bleachers and went and kicked a sixth grader in the sensitive spot, making him drop his sword. The redhead bent and picked it up, using it as his own. He went around, cutting the weapons out of other sixth graders' hands. He met up with Danuba somewhere in the middle of the fleet. They only smiled at each other before going to maul more enemies.

"Retreat!" called the sixth grade general, Ivan. He led his army off the field and away.

All the fourth graders, girls and boys, cheered madly. But Stan and Kyle stopped cheering immediately when they saw Kenny lying unmoving in the grass with an arrow in his side.


	9. The Power of Rage and Fury

"Kenny!" Kyle ran to his wounded best friend and pulled the arrow from his skin.

"Kyle…" murmured the little blonde. "…did we win?"

"Yes… the sixth graders retreated… we won the first battle," Kyle told him.

Kenny smiled weakly, "Good…" His eyes rolled in his head and he went unconscious again.

Kyle looked up, "Someone help Kenny!"

Two of the softball girls came and picked Kenny up and carried him away into the school.

The redhead boy watched sadly. They had won the battle, yes, but Kenny had to bear the burden as he always had to. Whether he would live or not, Kyle couldn't tell. But he hoped he would.

Danuba came up behind him, "That was so random…" she said.

"Yeah," Kyle said back. "They must've decided to launch an attack during a big gathering. But this wasn't that big, so I don't understand."

"What if they know you and Stan are the leaders?" Danuba said matter-of-factly.

Kyle reread her statement and thought into it a bit. _She could be right_, he thought. _But how would they know… unless someone told them…_

_Another fourth grader…_

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that day, Stan and Kyle went to see Kenny in the infirmary of the Secret Room. The blonde was lying in a small bed that had been set up in the corner of the room beside a few other beds. He was awake, but still injured.

"Hi, Kenny," Kyle said as they approached him.

"Hey, guys," the bedridden boy replied, wincing with the pain of his wound. "What's up?"

"We came to see you," Stan said.

"Sweet. Hey, whatdya got behind your back, Kyle?" Kenny asked curiously.

Kyle smiled and revealed a little white box, "Well, the others got together after you were shot and we all pitched in and made you something." He handed the box to Kenny.

Delirious with confusion, Kenny looked up at his two best friends and then down at the cube in his hands. He lifted the lid slowly and pulled out a quarter-size golden badge with the words "Gift of Fidelity, KENNETH McCORMICK" engraved on it.

Kenny stared, speechless. "Wow. How did you guys make this?"

Kyle looked at Stan, who shrugged and grinned, "I know a guy…"

The redhead took the badge and pinned it onto Kenny's orange jacket. "Looks great on you, dude."

"Thanks, guys…" the blonde said as he lay back down on the pillow and fell asleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey," Danuba said to Kyle at his locker the next day.

"Oh, hi," the redhead said with a grin.

"How's Kenny?"

"He's doing pretty good," Kyle replied, cramming a book into his locker. He was silent for a bit before he said, "I don't understand it, though. Who would tell the sixth graders about me and Stan leading the army?"

"Obviously someone who hates you two…" Danuba told him. "But who hates you so much to do that?"

A little lightbulb flashed on in Kyle's head. "Damn it, Cartman!" And he stormed off, leaving behind a very confused Danuba.

Kyle swung open the door to the boys' bathroom, "CARTMAN!!!"

Eric came out of one of the stalls, wearing a sly smirk on his pudgy face. "Hello, Jew," he sneered.

"You fucking fatass!" Kyle growled. "You went and told the sixth graders about me and Stan being the leaders of the army, didn't you!?"

"Wow, Kyle, you are smart…" Cartman drawled. "Yes, I did, as revenge for attacking me a few days ago… I still regret not just killing you right then and there… I know you hate me, Kyle…"

"This isn't about you, dickhead! This is about all the fourth graders and winning the war! We're trying to save the school from destruction! Besides, I didn't mean to attack you! Something just… came over me…"

"Like hell, Kyle!"

"Cartman!!!" Kyle argued. "You are such a bastard! We're trying to save YOUR fat ass too! So quit trying to destroy your own allies!"

"Get… out… Kyle…" Eric said menacingly slowly. "You're… not… my… ally…"

"Cartman--"

"GET OUT, KYLE!!!"

The redhead felt his blood boiling. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Then, like the previous time, he lunged at Eric.

Cartman grabbed Kyle's shaking wrists and held them away from him as Kyle launched a kick at Eric's stomach. He hit him in the gut, and Eric doubled over, giving Kyle the chance to tackle him to the floor. Struggling to hold him up, Cartman allowed his own strength to take over, and he threw Kyle against the wall and staggered to his feet.

Kyle looked up at Cartman, his rage subsiding, and just stared.

Eric appeared to have seen a ghost, for his eyes were wide and crazed with fear. "Kyle… I hate you… just… stay away from me…" He regained his composure and limped out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Kyle lay dazed on the tile floor, hurt and slightly bloody. "What have I done?" he murmured, staring at his whitened palms. "What's happening to me?"


	10. Repairing a Broken Soul

"Dude, what's up with you?" Stan paced back and forth in front of Kyle in his room that afternoon. "That's like, twice this week you've beat up Cartman. You're probably on his assassination list right now!"

"Since when was I not on that list?" Kyle said with a scoff. "I don't know why I've been hurting so many people, it's just… I got angry, and then I seemed to lose control… it's like, something completely takes over me and I can't stop it…" He stared down at his white-and-black shoes.

"Well, whatever is going on, it seems to be getting worse," Stan told his friend. "You actually hurt Cartman this time."

Kyle swung his head back toward Stan. "I did? How?"

"I don't know, but that's what I heard. I also heard that his mom might file a lawsuit against you for physical assault." Stan paused for a bit, then looked at Kyle again. "What is going on, Kyle? You're turning into… not you…"

To this, the redhead had no reply. He stared at Stan's wall, not saying anything. But then he realized something.

"Stan, I have to go. There's someone I need to talk to."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Kyle slowly opened the door of his brother's room, where Ike sat playing with some toy cars. "Ike?" he said softly.

The little boy looked up at Kyle, and his smile went away. "Hit me 'gain, Kyle?" he spoke in that quiet voice of his.

"Ike, I'm really sorry I hit you," said Kyle as he went over and knelt beside his brother. "Something was… making me really angry… Will you forgive me?" He opened his arms to Ike, motioning for a hug.

Then Ike did something that made Kyle want to cry. The little boy dropped his cars and put his hands over his face as though he were protecting himself. He was shuddering a bit, and whimpering fearfully.

Kyle watched this with a feeling of an emotional breakdown. "Ike, I'm not going to hit you… I want to give you a hug…"

Ike didn't move much, but he stopped whimpering and lowered his arms a little.

"Please, Ike." Kyle pleaded. "Give me a hug so we can make this all better."

The little boy looked at Kyle, and finally he let his guard down. He stood up, hobbled over to his big brother, and fell into him in a hug.

"I'm sorry, Ike," Kyle whispered again.

"S'okay, Kyle…" Ike said. "Where Mommy?"

Kyle pulled Ike away to look him in the eyes, "Ike—Mommy went away…"

"On vacation?"

"No, Ike…" It was hard for him to break the news to someone who wouldn't understand. "Mom left us… forever…"

The toddler looked heartbroken for a little bit, but then he said, "Mommy hates us…?"

"Yes, she does, Ike," Kyle told him, tears building up in his emerald eyes. "So we have to take care of each other now. Okay?"

"'Kay," Ike said in a small voice. "I love you, Kyle."

"I love you, too," He hugged his brother again, knowing that he wouldn't fully understand until he was older. But Ike understood as well as he could, and it still hurt as much as it did to Kyle.

**yeah this is kind of a short chapter. the next one will be longer tho im pretty sure. plz leave reviews! and i will try to update this asap. :D**


	11. The Battle for Terra Din

**this chapter is very gory, just to let you know. its the first actual battle for Kyle and the army, so please enjoy the fighting! lol. plz review and thanks to all my readers!**

The next day, Kyle sat in his desk that morning, waiting for the arrival of Danuba so that he could talk to her. He loved to converse with her about the things that troubled him because she understood him better than anyone, even Stan. She knew what he was going through somehow, and she didn't mind talking to him, either.

Soon she walked into the room, smiled at him, and sat down in her desk. He leaned over and whispered, "Hey, Danuba, can I talk to you?"

She would've said yes, but something silenced the entire class. Kyle looked up to find out what it was, and he saw Clyde come running into the room with a sheet of paper in his left hand and a look of pure terror on his face.

"Kyle, sir," he said, panting heavily from running down the hall. "We have a note… from the sixth graders…"

The redhead swallowed hard and took the paper from Clyde. Upon unfolding it, the entire class crowded around him to hear him read it aloud,

"_Today, 3:30 pm—after-school battle, in the parking lot, line up your strongest forces! We will crush you this time_!"

The whole class went up in murmurs after Kyle had finished. Stan pushed through them and came up next to him, "At least this time they sent us a warning. We better call another meeting in the Secret Room."

Stan nodded, then stood up on one of the desks and said yelled, "HEY!!!" The class was quieted immediately. Stan looked around at all of them. "Listen up—as you know, the sixth graders have arranged for a battle. I need all our warriors to report to the Secret Room after lunch to decide our plan of attack."

Later that day, in the Secret Room, Kyle spread a map of the school out on the table. "Okay," he said. "Stan and I have chosen special names for each section of the school.

"The lunchroom is called Xerress, the main hallway is called Amberlade, the parking lot will be Terra Din, the playground is Sephr, and then classroom is Classroomia."

There was a silence in the room, and then someone muttered, "Where did they come up with those names?"

"Prepare yourselves, warriors," Stan said nobly. "Failure is not an option, nor is death. We've already witnessed the fall of the brave warrior and classmate, Kenny McCormick. Now we must avenge him, and all the other fourth graders who are not spared a wedgie or beating after school. Now let's get ready for this war."

After some cheering from the group, Stan and Kyle took the boys back to their lockers to get their weapons. But they arrived only to see that those who had chosen guns no longer had them.

"What the hell? How could all the guns be stolen?" Kyle said, surprised.

"The sixth graders must've sided with the teachers to strip us of our weapons," Stan told him.

Clyde came up to them, "None of the swords, arrows, axes, spears, maces, flails, and other junk got stolen. It was just the guns."

"Thank you for the report, Clyde," Stan said with a nod. "Looks like we have to use what we already have. Everyone back to the room!" And they all herded out of there like sheep.

Back in the Secret Room, Kyle gave some other weapons to the boys who'd chosen guns. As they readied for the battle, they all were anxious and frightened at the same time.

Kyle wasn't sure if they would be prepared for what the sixth graders would do to them. But whether they were or not, he had to lead the fourth graders with honor and fidelity. That was the spirit of a true leader.

At three thirty on the dot, the fourth grade army lined up out at Terra Din. Kyle stood tall and noble in front of the group, braced for a long, hard fight. They had to go all-out with the sixth graders, and he knew it. So did Stan. And so did all the rest of the army. They knew this wouldn't be easy.

Kyle turned to face the boys. "This is it, guys—our first actual battle. Today we will destroy the sixth graders and their strongest of forces. We have to plunge into these guys like we would into a thirteen-layer chocolate cake—we just tear it up! So let's show those bastards who's the stronger grade!"

"YEAH!" cried the boys, holding their weapons high into the air.

A warm breeze blew across the deserted black asphalt of Terra Din, whipping Kyle's red bangs across his eyes as he stared out at the heat-blurred school.

Suddenly a shape appeared in the distance, followed by a whole line of other shapes. They were armored and ready for a fight.

The sixth graders had arrived.

The leader, the same blond boy that had declared war in the first place, pointed his fancy-looking golden sword out at the fourth graders and uttered a shrill battle cry at the top of his lungs, which sent the rest of his warriors across the pavement toward Kyle's army.

Stan leaned over to Kyle and hissed in his ear, "They've got armor! That's not fair!"

"Calm down, Stan, we just have to be careful and strong," the redhead told his friend. Heart beating wildly, he braced himself for the fight. He held his sword out as well, and he yelled, "Charge!", and he and the army plunged forward.

There they were, two groups of armed kids, going head-on against each other. One was led by a blond boy in silver armor, the other led by a redhead in an orange jacket and a green hat with earflaps. It was going to be a long, bloody battle.

The two squadrons collided together, and the rest was a blur. Stan swung his sword out and stabbed a sixth grader in the exposed part of his armor, which was the jugular area, rendering his head from his neck. Then Stan turned and sliced the arms off another boy.

Kyle took out his bow, pulled an arrow from his quiver, and fired at a sixth grader, sending a leg into midair.

One unlucky fourth grader, however, was stabbed through the stomach and left dead. Another one was decapitated barbarically. And many others were being impaled.

Kyle then charged in with his magnificent silver blade and managed to pierce the armor of an enemy, and the sword was driven into his chest. Another sixth grader came up behind the redhead and tried to behead him, but the ever-smart Kyle ducked, pulled his blade from the corpse, and swung it around and beheaded the enemy. But then someone tripped him, and he landed hard on the pavement.

The fall seemed to stun Kyle, and when he looked up, he was staring fearfully at the massive body of Dontei, the lackie of the sixth grade leader. The huge boy held up his long, sharp sword, ready to stab Kyle. But Stan came to the rescue, standing over Kyle and holding his sword up, clashing it against Dontei's.

The weight of the bigger boy's blade was unbearable, and Stan was forced to lower his a little. He pushed Dontei's sword away, which was followed up by the sixth grader's arm slamming him off his feet and away to the side. After he was out of the way, Dontei returned to Kyle and prepared once again to kill him.

But right when Kyle thought he was done for, he heard the clash of metal against metal. He opened his eyes to see…

Kenny standing over him as Stan had done, with his own sword raised to meet the big boy's sword. The little blonde's arms held more strength than Kyle had ever thought, for Dontei's arms shook and retreated slowly.

Finally, Kenny forced the sixth grader's sword away, and it spun out of its wielder's hands and clanged hard on the asphalt. Then Kenny squeezed both hands hard on the black handle of his sword and drove the blade into Dontei's throat with a mighty cry of victory.

The huge kid fell to the ground, dead, and Kenny yanked his sword from his enemy's flesh. He turned to Kyle and helped him off the ground.

The redhead was at a loss for words, until he saw someone behind Kenny. "Dude, watch out!"

But the figure knocked Kenny out with a sweep of his fist.

The blond boy collapsed to the pavement without another movement, and Kyle stood face to face with the sixth grade general, Lloyd Harris.

"Now it's just you and me, Broflovski," the leader growled.

Kyle gritted his teeth and held his shining sword out in front of him. "Bring it."

"As you wish," Lloyd pulled a long golden blade from its sheathe. It was almost three inches longer than Kyle's, and was engraved with foreign characters that the redhead could not read. "You're skills are impressive, but mine are better. And I will prove it now."

In a clash of two mighty blades, Kyle and Lloyd officially became sworn enemies. Kyle swung at the enemy, who dodged quickly and attempted his own attack. It nearly sideswiped Kyle, and the redhead leapt out of the way with a spin.

This went on for a few minutes, and finally their swords slammed together, and they were staring at each other beyond the other's blade.

"Give it up, kid," Lloyd said menacingly. "We will destroy you any day."

"Oh, really? You and what army?" Kyle said with a grin.

Lloyd pushed Kyle away and stopped to look around.

All of his sixth graders were lying on the ground, either dead or wounded gravely.

He growled, then shoved the fourth grader to the ground and turned on his heel. "This isn't over, kid. We'll finish this next time."

Lloyd called to his remaining warriors, and the few of them disappeared into the distance.

Kyle stood up and gazed around at the battlefield. The fourth graders who'd survived stood up and cheered madly. Even Kenny, who had been knocked out, was now awake and jumping up and down with victory.

Stan came up beside Kyle and put a hand on his friend's shoulder and gave him a friendly shake.

The fourth graders had won their first official battle.

**well that was chapter eleven. twelve will be up soon but i dont know what will happen yet. anyway, plz leave reviews and i will try to update soon! ff23**


	12. Reinforcements

After their victory at Terra Din, the fourth graders gathered in Xerress for a celebration. Sodas were passed around and cupcakes and pudding cups were provided by Token.

Kyle stood up on one of the tables and whistled loudly, gaining the attention of every kid in the room. "Everyone," the redhead said, his voice echoing in the vast room. "Good work, today. We all deserve this celebration. But I think we should give a toast to the five fourth graders who didn't survive the fight."

Clyde set a piece of toast on the tombstone that had been placed in the corner.

The redhead held up his soda can and said, "To the brave hearts of fourth grade!"

"Hear, hear!" called the other boys, holding up their cans as well.

Then Stan stood up beside Kyle, "But remember, everyone, the war isn't over yet. There are still territories to fight for, and the sixth graders have more soldiers. If they declare another battle, we're going to need a fort or something. Does anyone have any idea where we could build up a stronghold?"

No one spoke at first, but then Craig raised his hand, "What about the playground?" The other fourth graders murmured in agreement.

Stan turned to Kyle, and the redhead nodded, "All right," Kyle said. "We will set up a fort there. Everyone bring something—big wooden boards, nails, hammers, drills, and even giant cardboard boxes. We're gonna need as many tools as we can to make a good fort, so everyone has to pitch in. Meet out at Sephr tomorrow before school starts, and we can build up a stronghold for all of us." He looked at Stan, "Dude, I need you to consult West Park Elementary and tell them to come here to help us. We'll need all the warriors we can get if we want to claim the entire playground. Remember, the other half of Sephr is sixth grade territory, and they call it Edrei. But go get the West Park fourth graders and make sure they're here by tomorrow to help us build."

"Affirmative, captain,"

Kyle raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Just kidding," Stan said, nudging his friend. "I'll see to it that we bring in reinforcements."

And the meeting was dismissed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning at Sephr, Kyle stood at the top of the red slide, looking down at the other fourth graders who had assembled. Stan had not yet come with the West Park warriors, and Kyle was growing worried.

"Where are they?" he whispered.

A pile of large wooden boards lie down in the sand, and a few boxes, each about the size of a thirty-inch TV, were stacked up beside the lumber. A box of nails and several hammers were set next to the boxes.

Clyde and Craig, who were there since eight o' clock, had already started nailing boards together and fixing up the playground.

Kyle stared out at the road, anxious for the coming of Stan and the foreign warriors.

Finally, a school bus pulled up in the street, and a boy with a red poofball on his hat stepped out, followed by a group of unfamiliar-looking fourth-graders.

As they neared the playground, Kyle sighed in relief. He flew down the steps and off the equipment and stood in wait for Stan as they approached.

When Stan and the unfamiliar kids reached the sand, Kyle stepped up to his best friend, "What took you?"

"Bus trouble," Stan said with a shrug and a smile.

Kyle looked past him at the West Park warriors. They all looked battle-ready and tough.

"All right, Westians," the redhead yelled. "We need to build a fort to prepare for our next battle, and we'll need you're help. Step forth and lend a hammer in building the stronghold."

The foreign warriors nodded and did as Kyle said.

"WAIT!" cried a shrill voice.

Everyone turned to the school and saw Bebe and the rest of the softball girls standing there, tools and lumber and boxes at hand. "Don't think you can count us out, Kyle." Bebe said with a smirk.

"Yeah," Danuba stepped up. "Did you think we'd let you boys have all the fun and kick all the ass?" She winked at Kyle, who grinned like a complete moron.

"So, like, let's get started!" Bebe said, holding up her hammer.

Within an hour, the playground equipment on the Sephr side was transformed into a wooden fortress. The cardboard boxes became towers at the highest areas of the stronghold. The wooden boards would provide some protection against bullets and arrows, and at the bottom of the equipment were two boards that were hinged in a doorway to let soldiers in and out. Someone had brought a shovel and dug a trench around the front of the stronghold.

When everyone had gathered in front of the fort to look upon their efforts, Kyle and Stan stood up before them. "Good work, everybody," the redhead said to them. "This is our fortress for when we battle the sixth graders again. I want to thank all the West Park students who have come to fight with us. And I'd also like to thank the softball girls for stepping up as well. I truly believe this fort will hold during our fight."

The crowd went up in cheers of accomplishment. And while everyone was celebrating the completion of their work, Danuba ran up to Kyle and gave him a long kiss.


	13. Collapse of Edrei at Sephr

**well, here's chapter 13. i worked really hard on this one, so plz leave reviews :D. **

**Anonymous Void-- i caught that little error too about Butters and the toast in chapter 12. so i fixed that as soon as i saw your review. thank u for reminding me and thanks for your review too. **

**i hope the battles made the story a little more exciting! plus i want to thank "i luv kyle Broflovski" for submitting me my 20th review:D big thanks to all fans of this fic and i hope you enjoy my other stories too. ok i'll let you read the story now. Here it is: Chapter XIII of "The War of South Park Elementary"!**

As afternoon came around, Kyle sat anxious in his seat, waiting for another note signaling the next battle. But nothing came. He was starting to think that the sixth graders were plotting something. The West Park students were all out patrolling at the fortress, fixing up loose walls, stocking up ammunition and weapons, setting up a catapult, and keeping a close watch on Edrei in case the sixth graders launched a surprise attack. Kyle prayed that they wouldn't, at least until after school.

But when that time arrived, and Kyle assembled the fourth graders out to their fort at Sephr, there was still no sign of the enemy.

"I decided to give our fort a name, too," Kyle told Stan when they were standing in one of the towers. "I thought 'Gyeron' was good."

"Um, okay…" Stan was quiet for a second and then said, "Any word from the sixth graders?"

"No, nothing yet," Kyle replied. "Token brought armored suits for all of us from Armor-R-Us, so we better go get ready like everyone else."

"It's amazing how much that kid can buy," Stan said wonderingly.

When the two of them were dressed in their armor, they retreated back into their tower at the very back of the fort. "Are we all ready?" Kyle asked, shoving his helmet farther up on his head. "I'd feel so much better if I could fight in my hat. It helped win last time. What if--" He was silenced immediately by a loud crash and wood splinters flying everywhere. The two boys ran out of the tower to see what happened and stopped at the sight.

A boulder was lodged into one of walls, leaving a huge crater in the wood that had nearly busted right through. All the boys' attention was drawn to the other side of Sephr, where another massive fortress stood. There was an entire line of the sixth grade battalion standing before the base that they called Edrei, and another line standing at the fort itself. At the tallest point of the fort stood Lloyd Harris, his golden blade at hand, sending his army forward to attack Gyeron.

Kyle pulled his sword from his sheathe and held it in front of him. "All soldiers to the front line—boys only—this is a battle for our fort and everything we hold dear! I don't know why I am giving this speech, but it makes me sound noble! Anyway, softball girls stay behind as second-line reinforcements! And…CHARGE!"

The fourth grade soldiers forwarded at the enemy line, their silver armor glinted with the milky white of the cloudy sky. Right at the division line between the Edrei and Sephr territories is where the two squadrons collided. In that instant, the troops on both sides grappled to slice, to stab, to raise their shining weapons and bring them down at their enemies. As the battle broke out, Kenny and Craig loaded their catapult to try and down the sixth graders' walls. When there was a boulder in the launcher, Kenny snapped the rope and sent it flying at the enemy fortress with a loud cry of, "Meteor!!!"

The rock soared right over the battlefield and hit the sixth grade fort head-on. The wall crashed in a little, and the entire fort seemed to shake. But the sixth graders countered with a catapult of their own, sending a boulder hurdling at Gyeron. The path of the stone was not quite as anticipated, for it landed in the trench that had been dug around the fourth grade fortress. But it did manage to spray sand up into the air and into the eyes of those standing up at the fort.

Kyle had been watching the battle from the tallest tower, but then Token came running in, "The fight's looking good. We've only lost one, and the West Park warriors are better fighters than we'd thought."

"That's great news," the redhead said to the soldier. "If it gets bad, let me know and I'll send the girls in to help."

"Yes, sir," Token turned and ran out of the tower.

Kyle went into thought, trying to think what he should do next. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when there was yet another loud crash. But this one didn't come from the walls.

It came from the doors. Kyle drew his sword and rushed out of the tower. He stopped outside and leaned over the railing to see what had happened.

An entire group of sixth graders were slamming a huge log into the doors of Gyeron.

The redhead sped down to the front gate, where the girls were standing in a group.

"Listen, ladies," Kyle said, cringing at the word "ladies". "The sixth graders are trying to breach the doors. Now, if they get through, you'll have to fight them off while I make a break for their base. Can you do that?"

The girls looked at each other, but then Bebe smirked and said, "Oh, hell yeah. Bring it on."

"All right," Kyle said, holding his sword in front of him. "Get ready."

There was another loud bang, and a crack of light was visible. All of them, the girls and Kyle, braced themselves for when the gates would break.

Finally, the log smashed through the wooden doors, and the sixth grade offensive line was visible.

"Attack!" Kyle hollered, which dismissed the softball team upon the enemy.

The sixth graders did not expect to be fighting girls, so they stopped and stared incredulously before being smacked in the head with the girls' metal bats.

Kyle kept a peculiar watch on Danuba, who looked particularly radiant in her silver armor, as she kicked a sixth grade warrior's ass with her famed pink Louisville Slugger, which was slugging a bit more than what it was intended for at the moment. Danuba slammed one enemy to the ground, then spun around and swung the bat at another boy, knocking him off his feet and sending him flying into another boy. Their armor clanged together as they collided and then fell to the floor.

Soon all of the sixth grade offensive line was lying on the ground, either dead or unconscious. And after that, Kyle went running out toward the other side of Sephr.

Stan, who had been fighting in the main area of battle, made a swing with his sword and decapitated an enemy. He wasn't tired yet, and he wasn't about ready to quit fighting. But then he saw his best friend racing toward Edrei.

"Kyle, what are you doing?!" he called to the redhead.

But Kyle didn't hear him. He kept running straight forward, prepared for the sixth graders to launch a defensive attack. The enemy soldiers that stood at the top of Edrei aimed arrows down at Kyle, but they deflected off his armor and landed in the grass.

Kyle knew what he was doing was crazy—stupid, even. But he had a score to settle with Lloyd. And he wasn't about to let go of his grudge. He then pulled his bow out and aimed an arrow straight up at the sky. It whistled loudly as it flew up into the air. But he wasn't shooting at anything. He was giving a signal.

Back at Gyeron, Kenny had loaded the catapult once again. He then saw the arrow that Kyle had shot, and he sliced the rope, which sent the boulder shooting toward the enemy fortress.

The redhead saw it and ran to the side, out of the rock's path as it hit its target precisely where intended. The doors of Edrei.

It crushed the gates, and Kyle went running into the hole that was made. A few enemy soldiers raced in to defend their base, but Kyle defeated them with a few stabs of his silver blade. Then he dashed up the steps to the top of the fort, where he battled more soldiers and killed them with ease. Soon he came to the top of the base, where he saw the leader of the sixth grade army standing and watching the battle.

"Lloyd!" Kyle yelled angrily, holding his sword up at a challenging stance.

"Hello, kid," drawled the sixth grader, his dark cape blowing with the cold wind.

"I've got a bone to pick with you!"

"Oh, do you now?" The enemy leader's dark voice was slow and menacing. "On the contrary, Kyle, I have something for _you_."

He turned slowly, revealing a shape that was clutched in his right hand. It had black hair and big blue eyes and was only two feet in height.

Ike.

Kyle stopped dead in his tracks, staring in horror at his brother in the grip of his mortal enemy. Then his emotion changed from fear to pure anger. "Let him GO!" he demanded.

"I will, Kyle… if you surrender the battle," snarled the sixth grader.

"Never!!!"

"Then watch as I throw your precious adopted brother into the battle below. Who knows—if the fall doesn't kill him, my warriors will…"

Kyle suddenly felt a boiling anger inside him. It was an anger that he could not remember ever having. A strange tributary of red impulses coursed across his hands as he gripped his sword tighter. And a black aura began to flicker around his sword as it, too, began pulsing with red vein-like lines. As if carried by an invisible horse, Kyle bolted forward faster than a NASCAR vehicle. His sword aimed directly in front of him, and before he knew what was going on, it drove through the dark armor of the sixth grade leader. An ear-piercing cry of death shattered the air, and the general of the enemies fell to his knees, blood spraying from where he was impaled. He dropped Ike, who crawled away quickly and stood to watch.

Finally, Kyle pulled his blade from his opponent's flesh, and the enemy fell to the ground, dead. As his helmet fell off, Kyle saw a horrible truth.

It wasn't Lloyd that he had killed.

"What the hell?" he muttered. Then, as if he'd just realized what happened, Kyle whipped his metal glove off and looked at his hand. All up his arm were the red lines, pulsing along at the same rate of his heartbeat. But then they faded, and the aura around his sword disappeared, and all the fury seemed to drain out of him.

Ike looked fearfully at the dead sixth grader, then ran up to Kyle. "I scared, Kyle," he whimpered, hugging Kyle's armored body. "That big kid came to the house and took me and brought me here."

"It's okay, Ike. You're safe now,"

Down at the site of the war, the fourth graders finished off the last of the sixth grade battalion. They had won the second battle, but there hadn't been as many enemies than there had been during the battle at Terra Din. It puzzled Stan as he sheathed his sword and gazed at the destruction.

Kyle walked out the doors of Edrei with Ike beside him. He went up to Stan and the others as they began heading back to Gyeron.

"Hey, dude," the boy in the poofball hat said. "What happened up there? I saw you fighting the general and your sword was, like, ignited with black fire."

"It wasn't the general, Stan," Kyle informed him. "It was a decoy, a lieutenant posing as the leader. He was holding Ike hostage. I killed him, but I don't know how. It's like… my anger seemed to take over and then that's what drove me to taking the risk of Ike dying."

"That's really weird," Stan said, looking down at his feet as he walked. "You know, that's kind of the same thing that happened when you attacked Cartman. And Butters."

Kyle took a moment to consider everything Stan was saying. But then Stan's voice was droned out, and another voice filled Kyle's head.

"_Kyle… Kyle…_" it growled with a dark tone, like its voice was made of darkness itself.

The redhead shuddered, but then noticed that Stan was staring at him, a puzzled look on his face. "You okay, dude?"

"Yeah… take Ike and get back to base, I gotta go find my bow," Kyle lied. And he turned and walked the other way.

Stan looked doubtfully at Kyle, who indeed had his bow slung around him. But he shrugged and guided Ike into the smashed doors of Gyeron.

Kyle then heard a whispering sound behind him, like wind rushing through the leaves of the treetops, and he turned slowly. What he saw left him delirious.

A pitch-black figure in the shape of a huge serpent was coming up from the ground. It's eyes were red as blood and it's forked tongue flickered out from between two teeth that looked like black spearheads. The shadowy snake uttered a terrifying roar, swallowed Kyle down its narrow black throat, and disappeared into the darkness from whence it came.


	14. Amphade the Dark One

**heyy readers! its been a while since ive updated so here's the deal:  
im a bit stuck on what to do with my stories right now, so im sorry to say it could be a while before i update again... :(. on a happier note, my brother, KingAGhidora, has a story called "Who Knew" that im sure he would be real happy to get reviews for. its his first fic, after all, he's pretty new on this site. also, if not too busy, check out my fic "When You're Gone" and give me some feedback if i should make it a chapter fic or if i should leave it as a oneshot. reviews on that would be greatly appreciated.**

**as for this chapter, its a bit short, but it should kind of explain Kyle's odd behaviour over the past few days. plz review and thanks to those who do:D**

**and now without further Shooting-My-Mouth-Off, here's Chapter 14 of The War of South Park Elementary!**

Kyle couldn't open his eyes. His whole body felt light and like it was floating, and he heard that same whispering sound that he'd heard when the serpent attacked him. His mind was rushing with oddities, thoughts that he could not ponder. Where am I? What's going on? Why do I feel like I'm flying? When he finally had the strength, he slowly opened his eyes. At the first glimpse of where he was, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

There was no ground beneath him and no sky above him. All around him, for miles and miles, was a surrounding of what appeared to be the inside of a giant lava lamp. The main color he saw was dark crimson red with bluish to black blobs that slithered their way up, down, and side to side.

The redhead was stunned. His armor was gone, the real world was nowhere to be seen, and he was alone in a lava lamp universe. What now?

"_Kyle…_" A gravelly voice growled his name, a voice that sounded like it was made of fear. Made of darkness. Made of all things evil.

"Who's there?" Kyle's voice echoed in the strange dimension.

"_You've known me forever, Kyle…_" the dark voice drawled. "_I've only been in your head since you were a born. I always… 'helped' you with your decisions…_"

"Wait…" Kyle spoke slowly, rubbing his chin in thought. "Helped me with decisions… that would mean… you're my…"

"_You're Conscience…_" Suddenly a dark shadow formed out of the limitless background, revealing a figure that was made of black fire, its ghostly form flickering with the flames of twilight. Its eyes, red as blood, had neither irises nor pupils, and its mouth when it spoke was no more than a gaping crimson hole that took the form of its words. "_At last… we meet face to face…_"

Kyle couldn't find anything to say, he was frozen in fear. He prayed to God to help him out of this… freak-dimension still in one piece. If anything were to happen to him, no one would ever know what had actually happened.

His Conscience laughed evilly. Even its laughter sounded as if it were made of darkness. _"You're afraid, Kyle… I can sense your fear…"_

The redhead was shaking now. He sweat dropped as his demonic Conscience drew itself nearer to him.

It grinned again, admiring the fearful look on Kyle's pale freckled face, _"My name is Amphade… Obviously you know I'm your conscience… but you didn't know, Kyle… that I have been the one deciding for you…"_

Kyle listened in disbelief to the deep gravelly voice. "Deciding for me? How…?"

"_Don't you remember? Punching that blond moron, attacking your fatass friend, slapping your little brother, killing that sixth grader…? It wasn't you who chose to do those things, Kyle… it was me…"_

Now Kyle did remember. No wonder he hadn't even known he'd attacked people until after it happened. He wasn't the one attacking them. It was Amphade using _his body_ to attack them.

"Why me…?" he asked softly, still virtually paralyzed with fear.

"_Because I was able to get into your head…"_ Amphade growled. He held up one long black finger and a strange diamond-shaped crystal formed at the tip. It looked like the midnight sky—deep blue, near-black with small white sparkles that appeared to be stars, and the whole crystal was surrounded by a burning flame that was dark purple, and a ribbon of silver light was twirling its way around the flame.

"_This is how I entered your head, Kyle… This little gem here is a Dark Shard… it's a very powerful jewel once belonging to the People of Shadow—and ancient race of beings of darkness… Anyone who touches it immediately obtains the powers of Shadow… You happened to be the unlucky person who got infected with its power…"_

"But… how…?"

Amphade sighed,_ "You certainly ask a lot of questions… Well, I suppose I may as well tell you… I'm actually a Demon. I roam the world of reality as much as I please… but this time, I had a reason. You, Kyle Broflovski, are the one who stopped me from destroying light so many years ago…"_

Kyle remained silent. He recalled nothing about what his Conscience was speaking of.

"_I appeared on earth in the form of a Raven… I was about to destroy this world by using my power to blot out all things light. But then you came along with your father and your rifle… you pulled the trigger that fateful day and shot me… I had to immediately disperse myself from the bird's body so I wouldn't die along with it… And from that day forward, I vowed to kill you…"_

"Well, you haven't yet! And you won't!" Kyle yelled, kicking his legs out in the nothingness.

"_Oh, really? You know, if I don't kill you… your own anger will…"_

The redhead stopped suddenly, letting those words sink in. All the attacks had been caused by him being angry. And all his fury was being released because of the Dark Shard.

There was a loud rumbling sound, then a high-pitched shrill. The shadowy creature grinned yet again and neared Kyle, _"Time for you to return to your pitiful world of light, now, boy…" _He held the gem up toward the endless sky, and before Kyle could get another audible sound out, the Dark Shard's flame grew to massive size and the strange realm began to dissolve. Amphade glared at the redhead as the purple fire became black, and started burning away the depthless dimension. _"We will meet again… And when we do, you will die… And there will be nothing that you or any of your friends can do to stop me… Oh, and speaking of your friends… any one of them could be next, Kyle… So be prepared for death… anyone's death…"_

Then the flame of the Dark Shard swallowed everything around the ten-year-old boy, and Kyle's vision soon went black with the shadowy fire. The last thing he heard was the evil laughter of his Conscience before his mind seemed to fog with darkness…


	15. Crawling in My Skin

**Hello, readers! I'm FINALLY back! I'm sooooo sorry, I had the worst case of Writer's Block! I hope you understand. Well, here's chapter 15. Please enjoy it, I worked hard on it! Please leave a review! --Mandy--**

**--**

"Kyle…?"

Stan's voice was the first thing Kyle heard. He didn't have the strength to open his eyes. His entire body felt numb. As the memories of his previous encounter flooded back to him, some of the feeling began to return to his legs. He'd been engulfed by shadow, lost in a void of endless darkness. He was possessed by a Demon of another world entirely.

"Kyle…" Stan said again.

The redhead's eyelids twitched. He just had to wake up. He no longer felt heavy, which meant someone had removed his armor.

More mixed voices filled his ears. Kenny, Craig, Token…

…Ike…

"Ike…?" Kyle managed to murmur.

Several gasps came from the others. "He's okay!" "Oh, my God!" "Kyle's back!"

Kyle finally got his eyes to open. The faces were blurry at first, but they eventually came into focus. Sitting up, the redhead looked around at all of them, noticing their cheerful expressions.

"You guys are safe?" he said absentmindedly. He was still a little dazed from his experience.

"Oh my God, Kyle!" It was Danuba. She threw her arms around him unexpectedly, rubbing her face into his neck.

"Danuba…" he whispered, resting his hands on her back. She was shuddering, he could feel it.

"Dude!" Kenny said, which redirected Kyle's attention. The blonde's hood was down, revealing the scattered battle scars on his face. "You've been out for like, an hour now! We had to drag you back here to the Gyeron because you fainted in the middle of the battlefield."

Upon remembering everything, Kyle slapped a hand to his forehead, "Oh no, that's right! You guys, I--" He stopped abruptly. _Perhaps it was best they didn't know yet_, he thought.

Danuba gave him a puzzled look, "Yeah? What is it?"

The others inched closer to him, eager to hear what he had to say.

The redhead shook his head, "Nevermind. I was just thinking about how we totally _kicked the sixth graders' asses_!!" He tossed his fist into the air.

Hearing this, the rest of the kids began to cheer.

Kyle smiled a little, but it faded only moments later. He was possessed… by a Demon… and he was the only one who knew._ What can I do…_?

A dark voice hissed in his head, "_There's nothing you can do, Kyle, but accept your fate… There's no denying it… Time is only carrying you closer to death. Soon darkness will consume you completely, and there's no stopping it…"_

"NO!" Kyle's hands flew to his head. His fingers clutched his red locks painfully. "NOOOO!"

Danuba jumped back, "What's wrong?! Kyle!?"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Kyle shrieked, thrashing about in his place. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"What are you talking about, Ky?" Stan said frantically.

"He won't leave!" the redhead continued. "HE WON'T GO AWAY!"

"Who, Kyle?! What's wrong with you?"

Kyle just kept screaming. He gripped his skull, dug his fingernails in so deep that streams of blood started dripping down the sides of his face.

"Kyle, stop!" cried Stan. He took his best friend's shaking wrists in both hands, "Calm down!"

"GET HIM OUT OF MY MIND!!"

Inside Kyle's mind, Amphade was laughing at him. "_I can't leave, Kyle! I'm embedded in your mind through the power of the Dark Shard! All you're doing is helping your death come sooner!"_

"Shut UP!!" Kyle hollered, tears leaking from his eyes, mixing with the blood of his temples. "SHUT THE FUCK UUUUUUP!"

It was then that he froze, and a heavy silence loomed over them. In that instant, Kyle's irises darkened until they were pitch-black. He rose slowly to his feet, his face solemn.

The rest of them stared up at him in confusion.

Danuba whispered, "Kyle…? Are you all right?"

But the redhead was expressionless as his lips formed words, "_Kyle is gone, foolish girl. Now it is I who control this empty corpse_."

The girl gasped sharply.

The Evil Kyle gave her a devilish grin, "_That's right, mortals! Bow before me, the Dark King Amphade_!" He threw back his head and laughed a frightening laugh, one so wicked that it sent chills up the spines of the fourth-graders.

Stan embraced the shocked Danuba, who was crying now. She shook her head quickly, "Kyle, no!"

The demonic boy snapped his gaze to her, "_I told you, I am not Kyle! The boy you once knew has been swallowed up by the darkness that is my power! See and behold!_" He raised a hand so his palm was facing them and a black mist gathered beneath his fingers. The speckles combined to form a distorted image, which showed a boy with dark circles beneath his graying green eyes, his red locks frazzled, his arm outstretched, and he was yelling, "Help me!" as he fell away into the darkness behind him.

"Kyle!" cried Danuba. She lunged for the Demon, but Stan held her back.

"No, Danie," he said, restraining her.

The possessed boy laughed again as the image disappeared, "_You are pitiful creatures! Humans are such weak, simple-minded organisms! Now watch, miniscule children, as I engulf your world with the power of Shadow!_"

He pointed a finger at Craig, who was standing nearby. A black lightning bolt erupted from the tip of Amphade's finger, which struck Craig, and immediately the boy uttered a scream. He sank to his knees at the mercy of the dark energy that enveloped him. Soon his whole body turned black as midnight, and strange appendages grew on his back. He was minimized to more than half his actual size until finally, the electricity vanished, and where there was once a fourth grader, there now stood a squawking raven, feathers as glossy and fluid as the night sky itself.

"Craig!" Kenny said, astonished.

The Demon snarled, "_Yes! And that is just a mere fraction of my true power! Before long, all of you will become ravens, my servants! Soon after, the entire world will be changed into birds of the night, and when the light is cast away from this world, my people will rise up to take over this pitiful universe!_"

"Dude, that is SO cliché!" growled Stan.

Kyle turned toward him, "_You dare insult me, weakling?! Have you any idea how powerful I am? I could banish this entire planet into a realm of eternal darkness with a mere snap of my fingers, and you deliberately accuse my powers to be 'cliché'? You have some nerve, child…_"

"I hope you choke on it!" Stan turned to the others, "Run, everyone! Run for your lives!"

In a panicked frenzy, the fourth graders all scattered, dashing in all directions away from Kyle, who was now Amphade the Dark One.

The Demon just laughed once again, "_You'll never escape me, daft youth! You will watch as everything you hold dear is overtaken by the shadows of my wrath!_" He raised his arms high above his head as a black whirlwind burst from his fists.

The sky was blotted by clouds that were first gray, then darker, then blacker than black itself. The clouds swirled above the King of Shadow like a tornado over its path, covering the sun's light in their black mist. By the time they coated the whole sky, not a single light could reach Earth from the outside.

Amphade hollered, "_Come my followers! Destroy all that is Light! Overtake all that is not Shadow! Join me to swallow these lands!_"

Flaming meteors fired from the clouds and roared toward the ground. Where they landed, black snakes slithered up out of the hole that was left. Some of the falling stones hit some of the fourth graders who had slowed down. Those who were impacted froze in their places and began to convulse, changing shape until they, like Craig, became cawing ravens. They flapped their shady wings into the dark sky.

Stan pulled Danuba along by her hand. The two of them had branched off from the rest of the fourth grade stampede and were now headed for the mountains that surrounded South Park. It was the only place they could go to formulate a plan.

"Keep running!" he told her.

She did what he said. They ran as fast as they could, trying to escape the coming doom behind them.

But even when they were outside the South Park town limits, they could hear Amphade shout, "_You can run, but you can't hide, humans! For it is only the beginning of the end!_"


	16. An Encounter With the Undead

**At last!!! I have created a Chapter 16!!! Now, a warning to all of you-- this has gone from a simply action story to a full-out fantasy, and you will see why. I really hope this will be a good read while I think of a Chapter 17, which should be up much sooner now that it's summer vacation (YAY). The appearance of some new characters should make this story fairly interesting, I hope. Please read and leave reviews!! I'm very grateful to all my readers who motivate me to keep writing! Hopefully some of my other stories will be updated soon as well, but I can't promise much. Writer's Block truly sucks... Well, enough wasting your time, I'll let you get on with the chapter now!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Honda Civic. It is mentioned and used in this story, but I do not own it.**

Stan and Danuba had been fleeing from the Demon for almost an hour. Sore and exhausted, they came to a rest at the foothills of the surrounding mountains. Danuba had been crying at the supposed loss of Kyle to the darkness, while Stan couldn't have been angrier at Amphade for what he'd done to his best friend. The entire situation was a complete nightmare come reality.

"Stan!" Danuba gasped, grasping his arm. She pointed to the sky, where a large black bird that was once a fourth grader was approaching.

The male scowled. "We can't let it see us. Follow me." He took her wrist and pulled her under some thick dead bushes. What he didn't expect was to fall through them into a dark cavern. His head hit painfully on the stone floor as Danuba landed on her lower back beside him. He sat up, peering around among the black rock.

He felt her press closer to him. "Where are we…?"

"A cave, I think." Stan rubbed his head beneath his hat. "It's pretty dark in here. I can't even see."

Something brushed his chest, then his shoulder, before he felt a palm on his face. Danuba's voice was soft and meek, "Sorry… it's just that the dark in here is a little… unnerving."

An unseen blush lit Stan's face. He didn't want to take Kyle's girl, but somehow she was making it harder for him to not feel the way Kyle did about her.

If Kyle would ever be normal again…

"Hey!"

The unfamiliar male voice caused Stan to rouse from his thoughts. He quickly turned around, but in the dark he couldn't see who'd spoken.

He didn't have to. A sudden click and the flash of pale light brought the person's face into view. It was indeed a boy, much older than Stan, probably fourteen or fifteen, with silky cocoa-brown hair that fell across his eyes, which were a pale blue with the faintest shade of jade. His face was finely angled, smooth like marble, and undoubtedly handsome, while his body was thin and lanky beneath a baggy shirt and lowly-worn jeans that were ripped at the knees.

The stranger looked at them long and hard in the glow of the lighter he held in one large hand. His eyebrows lowered as he smoothed the hair down on his head. "Who are you people?"

"I'm Stan Marsh, and this is Danuba Hinderdam. As crazy as this sounds, we're here outrunning a Demon who's possessed our friend."

"I know, I saw that from my house. I instantly took off running because, well… you're never gonna believe this, but… I've seen it happen before."

"You have?" yelped Stan, awestruck.

"Yeah…"

"When?"

The mysterious boy stared at the ground. "A very long time ago," he said softly. "Probably before you were born."

Stan looked at him cautiously. "What do you mean…? How old are you?"

"You'll never believe me…"

"Try me,"

The teenager bit his lip. "I look about sixteen, but… I'm actually about a little over a hundred."

Stan gave him a skeptical expression. Danuba was completely silent.

"I'm not lying, either," the boy went on. "I'm not… human."

"Don't tell me you're a Demon, too," Stan said, taking an inconspicuous guarding stance.

"No, not a Demon, but the next closest thing. Actually, I'm one of the more contained of my kind. Most of us are night-dwellers, and that's why I'm not out there right now. But once Amphade turns day to eternal night, I'll be free from this cave, and hopefully I can stop him."

"Wait… you want to stop the guy who could allow you to go out in the dark? Why? And what does that make you?"

"Because what he's hoping for is a Demon-ruled world, where he can raise an empire of fallen Angels that would destroy all life that still exists, including me, even though I don't count as life." The strange boy took a deep breath. "My name is Nick… I'm a Vampire."

Stan looked as though he'd just been told the worst joke ever, which was what was going through his head. "You're kidding."

"Want proof?" yelped Nick, offended.

"Well…"

Before Stan could finish, the strange boy swung the lighter down, caught sight of a large rat scurrying past his feet. In a flash, Nick bared his teeth, which immediately revealed razor canine fangs that gleamed in the lighter's flame, and he moved like a blur to snatch up the rodent. Those sharp fangs were in its flank instantly, blood oozed from between them, dripping down his chin and onto the cave floor.

Danuba covered her mouth in horror and clung to Stan fearfully. The fourth-grade boy merely watched.

Nick's throat contracted with each swallow as he drained the rat of its every last drop of blood. Once it was simply a lifeless pelt, he whipped his head sideways, tossing the dead rodent carelessly at the cave wall and it fell to the ground.

The now-confirmed Vampire licked the corners of his mouth of remaining blood. He slid his sweatshirt sleeve across his chin and then spoke, his voice faintly gurgled from his drink, "Now do you believe me?"

The young kids simply nodded their heads.

"But don't worry," Nick told them. "I've learned to suppress yearning for human blood. Not that I don't feel hungry for it every once in a while, but I don't act on the urges."

"That's… good, I guess…" Stan hesitantly stepped toward him. "So you want to destroy the Demon?"

"I'd do anything in my power to bring him down," Nick said nobly.

"Well, that makes three of us. See, he's possessed my friend." Stan's voice was melancholy. "And now he's going to plunge the whole world into darkness. I don't know if there's any way to stop him."

"There are ways, but they're incredibly risky and very dangerous. To defeat him, we'll need Angels and other Heavenly beings and whatnot. Now, I'm definitely no Angel, and I'm pretty much damned, yet I still want nothing more than to get rid of Amphade and his forces."

Danuba spoke then, "We want to help you. We'll do anything to have Kyle back, and to stop the world from becoming another Hell."

"Then we'll need a plan." Nick moved past them, his walk was a gangling lope, to the hole that led out to the forest. The sky was dark with thick black clouds, ravens that once were children cawed as they patrolled the air, red streaks of lightning lit the blackness in crimson light for a small fraction of a second, and the trees blew helplessly in a pungent hot breeze. "Look," said the Vampire. "If you want to help me, it can't just be you two. Do you have friends that could go with you?"

Stan was about to answer when a familiar hooded figure came tumbling through the brush into the cavern. "Kenny!"

Kenny pulled his hood down from his blond hair. "Oh, my God, Stan! I thought you were a raven, too! It's awful out there! I just barely made it in here before one of those fucking birds would've seen me."

"Those 'fucking birds' are your classmates, kid," Nick said as he revealed his presence to the blond boy. He looked at Stan, "This a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, this is Kenny McCormick, one of our bravest fighters. Kenny, this is Nick. He's, uh… he's a Vampire."

Kenny swung a crazed glance at his friend. "Get out of here! A real bloodsucking Vampire?"

Stan took a deep breath, "Well, he was kind enough to give us a demo." He pointed to the rat corpse on the floor.

Nick flicked the lighter back to life. "So anyway, is he all the help you have right now?"

"Probably," Stan replied. "Kenny, how many of the others escaped?"

"Not many… I think only Bebe got back to the town, but they're not safe there. Somehow we have to get everyone out of there before they all become crows, too."

"Impossible," Nick said bluntly, and they all looked at him. "Evacuating the town would be pointless. Amphade has unimaginable powers, and with them he could turn all of Colorado into his servants in a matter of minutes. Besides, where would they all go? No, it can't be done. But as for us, the faster we act, the better our chances are of stopping Amphade."

"Is that his name?" Kenny frowned. "I thought 'Faggot-Ass McGee' would suit him much better."

Nick ignored him. "I have somewhat of a plan, but it involves leaving here. We'll have to travel far away in order to get help from someone I know who can help us. What I'm hoping to do is gather an army of our own to fight against Amphade's. Once we get in close enough, we can attack him directly. It's… a pretty farfetched plan."

"Maybe… but it's all we have right now." Stan stepped toward the exit. "Where do we need to go?"

"Rhode Island. There's a really small town there where my friend lives."

"Is your friend a Vampire, too?" Kenny asked excitedly.

"On the contrary, my friend is a Lycan."

"A what?"

Stan answered before Nick could, "A Werewolf."

"But…" Danuba was shy again. "I thought Vampires and Werewolves hated each other."

"Assumptions, assumptions…" Nick waved a large hand. "Just because books depict us as being sworn enemies doesn't mean it's true. Half my group is Lycan and half of them are Undead. We exist together as skateboard buddies." He sounded almost cheerful. "And we're going to visit my best friend Daniel. He's first on our warrior list." He walked past them to the far wall of the cavern.

"So how do we get there?" Stan was getting hopeful.

"Oh, lemme guess," Kenny leapt up. "You'll turn into a bat and fly there while we take an airplane just behind you!"

Nick rolled his blue eyes. "That whole bat thing is a big load. See, we--"

A loud explosion like thunder came from outside. The cave shook ominously, and Danuba held tight to Stan's arm.

"Shh!" Nick put a finger to his pink lips. "Amphade is raising his armies. They've come to demolish the land. We have to move quickly."

"How will we get out?" asked the worried female.

"There's a passage this way. We'll leave here and then we'll take my car to Providence."

"A car?!" cried Kenny, and the others shushed him. "How is a car supposed to get us all the way from Colorado to Rhode Island?"

"You'd be surprised what Vampires can do." Nick gave him a sly grin, revealing his sharp pointed fangs. "Now come on. Any longer in this cave and they'll find us for sure."

He pushed aside a large boulder that was half his height and at least three times his weight. Stan found himself astounded by the Undead's immense strength; the many books written of Vampires depicted them as appearing very attractive, with super-strength and super-speed, and also very cunning. _Hopefully Nick is trustworthy,_ Stan thought as they walked swiftly through the tunnel behind the stone.

Nick pulled the boulder back over the exit and then flicked his lighter. The tunnel was illuminated with the flickering flame. They hurried through the passageway, the younger kids trying to keep up with the Vampire's quick pace, who seemed to be getting farther and farther ahead of them. The lighter's glow had almost completely disappeared when the end of the tunnel was visible. Outside the sky was still dark, but the ravens had not yet occupied this airspace.

Stan was about to ask where they were, but he stopped short of words at the sight of a small road that led through the trees.

And upon it was parked the nicest silver 2009 Honda Civic he'd ever seen.

"Holy Montego…" Kenny breathed. "I like the model, but I must ask… shouldn't its color be chosen especially for your drink-of-choice?"

Nick raised an eyebrow at him, though it was more in a humorous way rather than insulted. "Not specifically, but you gave me an idea for my next paint job." He moved to the driver's side and climbed in. The engine roared to life; he rolled down the window. "Well, what are you waiting for? Do you _want_ the world to become a Demon's playground?"

The three fourth-graders exchanged looks. Stan was beyond eager to destroy the Demon and rescue his friend, Danuba just wanted Kyle back more than anything, and Kenny was nearly dancing with ecstasy due to the fact that he'd be able to ride in an amazing car.

Without looking back, they approached the vehicle, Kenny yelling "shotgun!" just before leaping into the passenger seat. Stan and Danuba got into the back. The smell of new car wafted around them, and the Undead looked at all of them briefly. "Seatbelts would be very effective for this car."

"Why?" asked Kenny.

"You'll find out,"

As they clicked their seatbelts into place, as Kenny began asking Nick numerous questions about the car, as the darkness continued to spread above them, the Undead pressed the gas, and instantly the car shot forward with a great lurch, so fast it was practically a rocket launch. The kids found themselves pressed into the seats while the Honda sped down the road at potentially hundreds of miles per hour.

Stan's brain almost couldn't operate. The land was speeding past them so quickly out the window that he couldn't tell where they were at all anymore. The one thing he could think of—and the one thing that mattered—was stopping Amphade and saving Kyle. For that, he would do anything.

---

**Well, what do you think? Pretty suspenseful? I think my imagination is a little lacking since I had to refer to the old Vampire/Werewolf thing, but it's been bothering me lately and I just HAD to get them into a story sometime or another. Hope you are still interested in this and please leave reviews!! Chapter Seventeen, coming soon! :)**

***--MANDY--***


	17. Daniel and the Gang

**OMGSH! It's Chapter 17! YAY! I'm really getting into this again lol it's becoming so fun again! Anyway, it's the longest chapter yet, and I ALMOST have 50 reviews! Just two more! WHOOT! And then I'm halfway to 100!!! Hope you enjoy reading this chapter, it's got a few OCs, but they should be interesting, I hope.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the cars mentioned in this story.**

The Honda Civic came to a very abrupt stop outside a small ramshackle house somewhere in rural Rhode Island. It had taken barely two minutes to get there. The house was a broken-down cottage-looking structure; several minute holes in the wooden roof, an unhinging door, dead lawn full of dandelions.

Stan had lost his hat, which was almost literally sticking to the back window, while his eyes felt dry as dirt. The speed at which they'd driven was faster than any rocket he'd ever watched on TV.

Danuba's hair was frizzed beyond the point of taming. She was clutching the seat tight in her fingers, shuddering a little, but not all as scared as she had been when she'd first seen Kyle become a Demon.

Kenny was grinning like an idiot. He couldn't have been more excited if he'd been given his own country to rule. He unhooked his seatbelt and turned to Nick, who looked unfazed. "That—was—AWESOME! How did you get it to go that fast!?"

The Vampire smirked at him. "Just a few Undead fix-ups. My friend Brent is a motor-lover and he was kind enough to put in a turbo-boost sort of thing, I don't remember what he called it. Let's say that's not all this ride can do."

"There's _more_?" Kenny squeaked.

"Yeah, but I'll show you at a better time… hopefully." Nick opened the car door and stepped out.

Danuba gave Stan a worried look. "Wait… what happened to the sixth graders? Aren't we still at war?"

"They're probably all ravens by now. If not, they're fighting their asses off with no chance to win. Don't worry, though, we will make sure we defeat them or they surrender… after we get rid of Amphade." Stan climbed out of the car, Danuba just behind him.

Nick had pulled a along sweatshirt on and was wearing the hood up.

Stan frowned. "What's with the sweater?"

"The sun," the Undead answered briefly. "It'll burn me if it touches my skin." He started along the narrow concrete pathway leading to the house. "Come on. Where's your friend?"

Kenny was still in the Honda, but he'd moved to the driver's seat and had his hands on the steering wheel, pretending to press on the gas pedal and making 'vroom' sounds.

"Kenny!" Stan called.

The blonde saw his friend gesturing impatiently for him to follow. With a frustrated growl, he left the car he'd fallen in love with but was in no hurry to catch up with them.

The kids followed Nick to the front step, where he knocked thrice on the breaking door. At first there was nothing, only the sound of birds twittering in the ash trees behind the house, the trickling of a pond someplace nearby, a car or two driving by in a close-lying town.

Next the door swung open on its one hinge and a boy appeared in the doorway. His body looked fifteen, but he had a cute baby-face that made him appear younger. His hair was long glossy black and fell over his chocolate brown eyes, while his skin was the color of caramel, nowhere near Nick's pallid tone. He was wearing baggy jeans similar to Nick's, a long black shirt, and a peculiar necklace hung from his neck.

When he saw the Vampire there, he broke into a white grin that seemed to light up his whole face. "What's up, Nickolys?"

"Hey, Dan," Nick was cheery but serious at the same time. "We need to talk to you."

Daniel glanced past his friend at the three fourth graders. "Who are those guys?"

Kenny, suddenly uninterested in the car and more so in the boy that stood in the doorway, pushed past Stan to marvel at Daniel. "Are you a Vampire?"

Daniel's dark eyebrow rose beneath his long bangs. "Not me, blondie. I don't drink blood but it doesn't taste particularly bad." He smirked at Nick. "So what do we need to talk about?"

"Then what are you?" blurted Kenny.

Stan elbowed his ribs.

Daniel gave them a dismissive look. "Hey, dude, isn't that kind of a rude question?"

"Don't mind him," Stan said with a roll of his eyes. "He doesn't get out much."

Kenny glared acidly at him. "I'm just curious."

"If you must know," Nick answered in place of Daniel. "Dan's a Lycan, or a Werewolf. I told you that before we left."

"A real Werewolf!? That's awesome!"

Stan grimaced, "Is he gonna have to eat something alive in order to prove that he really is a Lycan?"

"Not if you believe me," Daniel said with another smile. He turned to allow them inside the house. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. Mi casa es tu casa."

The fourth graders noticed, as they walked past Daniel, that something long and furry and black as his hair was swishing across the backs of his legs.

"Oh, my God," Kenny said, looking up at Daniel. "You have a tail!"

"I'm a Werewolf, I'm supposed to have a tail," the Lycan replied, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

"But in human form? I'm so jealous!"

"It can get kinda irritating sometimes," and he dropped the subject. He moved over to a worn couch in the middle of the room, where he flung himself onto it, sprawling out like a starfish. "So, Nick, what's this urgent meeting about anyway?"

Stan and Danuba had taken a seat across from him on two chairs that had been pushed together while Kenny prowled about, snooping in things. Nick loomed in the darker part of the room, away from the sunlight that leaked in through the roof's holes.

"We have a big problem and we need your help." With that, Nick went on to explain the issue with Amphade and the spreading darkness and the fate of the planet being in their hands. Once he finished, he said, "I was hoping you could get the guys over here and we can bring an army up against Amphade. It's a long shot but I think we can do it."

Daniel ran a hand through his wispy black hair. "That's a lot of work, dude. We'd need, like, every available night-dweller in Colorado, fighting with the Demons."

"But you _can_ do that, right?" asked a worried Danuba.

"Well, I'm sure we can, but the others won't be too happy about it. At least, I don't think…"

"Who _would_ be?" sneered Kenny, setting down a strange artifact he'd taken off a shelf. "_I_ wouldn't want to go into war against a Demon."

Stan frowned at him. "Okay, a couple things wrong with that statement: one, we're already at war against a Demon. Two, you would fight anyway. And three, you'd fight _creampuffs_ if you thought they were savage and barbaric enough."

Kenny blinked. "What's your point?"

Nick cut Stan off before he could retort. "We need to think. Is there anyone you guys know that can join us?"

"I don't think so…" Stan said somberly. "Pretty much everyone I know is still back in South Park, probably ravens now, too."

"In that case," Daniel clapped his big hands together, creating a loud popping sound. "I'll get the boys up here. Anyone in particular you're asking for, Nickolys?" he asked as he took a cell phone from his jeans pocket.

"Our gang, for sure," Nick answered. "And all the Werewolves you know. We'll need all the help we can get."

Danuba glanced nervously out the cracked window. To the far western horizon, she swore she could see a faint line of black getting closer. Or maybe she was just being paranoid. She spoke up to Nick, "How many of you are there? In your gang, I mean?"

He turned to her. "Not enough for an army," he replied. "But there are more of us. Don't worry, we'll get as many as we can."

"Vampires or Werewolves?"

"Both."

Daniel was speaking into his phone for a mere minute or two—he'd explained the Demon issue in five seconds flat by eliminating a few minor details—and he flipped it closed as he turned to Nick. "Brent's on his way. He's working on his motorcycle right now, but he said he'll pass the word on and the others will be ready."

Stan asked, "How long will it take for them to get here?"

Daniel flashed him a white smile. "Oh, not long, dude. Trust me, once you've seen us move, you'll think NASCAR is slow."

"Oh, I believe it…"

"Now," Nick began, "as for you three," He gestured to the fourth graders, "you'll need to have weapons of some kind, not? Follow me." He led them past a rusty stove into a smaller room near the back of the house. Inside it was a series of weapons mounted upon its walls. "Pick a few, doesn't matter which."

Kenny was marveling at the fine set of weaponry before him. "Are you serious?! I get to pick out my own sword? Or a gun? Or… or…! I'm speechless! This is amazing! I'll get to kick Demonic ass with this stuff!"

"I thought you were speechless…" Stan muttered, taking a machete off one of the shelves.

Danuba pocketed a knife or two and then took a rather large metal club from its mount.

Kenny looked at her. "You're gonna use a baseball bat?"

"It's what I'm used to," she said simply. "I used one against the sixth graders."

"But those were kids," Nick's low voice growled behind them. "These are Demons we're dealing with. A bat might not be the best choice. You can certainly use it, but you'll need something more powerful." He browsed along the walls for a moment, from weapon to weapon, until he found and removed a large bright purple katana. "This should do nicely. It's not too heavy, and it has Celestial diamond in its blade. It could slice effortlessly through a pickup truck in one slash… please do not hit my car… so take care of it and it'll work just fine."

She carefully took the katana from him. A strange pale white glow was radiating from its sharp blade, almost as if Heaven itself were powering it.

"Whooooa…" Kenny murmured, gaping at it. "Not fair! I want one like that. Hey, Vampire guy, could you help me find a kickass sword like that one? Or perhaps a laser cannon or something?"

"You're a man, you can help yourself," the Undead said snidely.

Then Daniel's voice was heard, "Nick, the guys are here!"

Nick glanced over his shoulder. "About time, too. Come on, mortals, time to meet the gang." He walked away from them.

The first one following him was Kenny, then Stan, who stopped to wait for Danuba, who was still staring incredulously at the beautiful katana. She did, however, look up, as they all did, when they came to the living room where a group of at least eight boys, including Daniel and Nick, had gathered.

Nick stepped forward. "You'll now be meeting my Vampires," he said with an accent like Dracula. The boy he was standing beside was bright platinum blond, his hair in short waves like golden sunshine on his head, while his face was thin and tan. His eyes were cobalt blue, his body very thin beneath his polo shirt and jeans.

"This," Nick announced, "is Fallon. He's the brains of our whole group, probably the smartest one of everyone in here—no offense, guys." The others grumbled to themselves. "Anyway, he's the strateg-etic planner guy."

The next Vampire was medium-height, with chestnut-colored hair and pale hazel eyes. His face was handsome, he was slender, and he had a motorcycle helmet under his right arm.

"This is Brent," said Nick, and the boy nodded toward them. "He's our motor-tech wiz. He fixes up our cars when they're not working right."

"If you fuck it up, I fix it up—that's my motto," Brent said with a grin.

The Vampire after him was taller, more scrawny, with messy midnight curls and eyes like chocolate. His skin was fair, pale like cream, and he had a bandana over his nose and mouth like a character from some old Western film.

"This moron right here is Renn. He's sort of our navigator but not really. Basically he serves no purpose."

"Thanks, dude…" Renn growled.

Nick spread his arms proudly. "That's us. We're the Undead." In a newscaster's voice, he said, "Now to you, Dan."

Daniel smirked, "Thank you, Nick. Now, mortal children, prepare to meet the Wolves."

Stan was interested. Danuba was looking from one guy to the next with considerable admiration. Kenny appeared to be anxious to find out who the Lycans were.

Daniel showcased a very tall, slightly tanned boy with hair and tail almost as black as a raven's feathers. He had a round yet angular face with pine-green eyes, and his body was shapely, not too bulky but no doubt muscled. His jeans weren't near as baggy as Nick's, Dan's, Renn's, or Brent's—in fact they actually fit well on his hips. He looked almost ominous with his height and brawn.

"This is Andy," Daniel said proudly. "Doesn't he look like a big badass? Hehe… well, only when he's a Wolf. He's like the Jolly Green Giant, but definitely, he's the powerhouse of my group."

"Hi," was the tallest one's greeting.

Next was a shorter boy with long silky caramel-gold hair that fell upon eyes the color of the sky. His face was attractive, though it contained some scars, probably from fighting in Wolf form, and he was very thin, almost thinner than Renn. His jeans seemed to rest lower on his hips than the rest of the boys, and his long Wolf's tail grew almost to his ankles.

"Now, meet Ivan. He's an expert with explosives and a very powerful wolf, for sure. But he does have a sense of humor, no matter how mean he looks." Daniel high-fived the golden-haired boy, who flipped away his long bangs.

The last boy was also very skinny, with bright blond hair that was wispy and flipped out over his ears, brighter than Fallon's. He was freckled on his nose and below his pale green eyes.

He gave the fourth graders a crazed smirk.

"Last but certainly not least," Daniel annunciated, "is Spike. He's the funniest damn kid you'll ever meet and quite possibly the craziest. You will find out why, trust me." He stood beside Andy and threw up his arms as though flinging confetti, "We are the Lycans."

At first the fourth graders said nothing. Danuba seemed off in some other world, staring mostly at the Wolf-boys. Stan almost looked disbelieving.

Finally Kenny said to the Wolves, "Can we see you guys transform?"

Before Daniel could answer, Spike leaped forth at blinding speed. A fierce sound erupted from his throat, sounding like a loud bark, and his body began to change. His ears relocated until they were fuzzy pointed triangles on the top of his head, while his vivid blond hair started sprouting all over his body. His shirt and jeans were on the floor beside his shoes and socks as his legs and arms changed shape. With a few more muscle alterations, by the time he landed, Spike was a full and extremely real wolf. His bright green eyes, the pupils round in the dim room, watched the young kids intently, almost asking "how was that for ya?"

Kenny's jaw had dropped wide open.

Stan was gaping with astonishment at the glittering ivory fangs that protruded from the saliva-coated pink gums. Spike's tongue was hanging out, like any average dog, but no matter how friendly he looked, he could've been anything but.

"Wow…" breathed Danuba. "This is… honestly amazing. I… I didn't think--"

"That we existed?" said Brent. "Yeah, no one really does. But they've never been in trouble up to their chins. This is major stuff you're all dealing with here, and you're just fourth graders. Hehe… no offense, but it sucks to be you guys."

Renn gave him a cold look.

Spike plodded over alongside Ivan, who was flicking a lighter on and off in his hand. A drop of saliva dripped off the Wolf's tongue onto the floor, at which Danuba grimaced.

"Wait… this is your whole army?" Kenny asked, baffled and slightly unimpressed.

"Are you kidding?" Andy, the tallest Lycan, yelped. His voice, not very low but not very high in pitch, was a natural whine. "We're only a section of the army. We've got hundreds of us!"

"Hundreds might not be enough," Fallon said softly, his voice a bit lower than Andy's. "Demons are practically infinite unless you destroy the one that's summoning them, in which case, we'd have to get rid of Amphade to get rid of his army."

The others murmured in agreement.

Spike made a small barking noise.

"He says," translated Ivan, "that perhaps, if we fight our way through the outer Demon lines, we can get to Amphade in the center and take him out. You know—diversion."

Renn scratched his curls, "But killing a Demon isn't that easy, is it? You can't just cut his head off."

"True," Nick agreed. "We need some sort of Angelic or Celestial essence to weaken him and then strike." He looked over at Danuba and her glowing blade. "Danuba, your katana might be the key to destroying Amphade, so protect it well."

"I will," she said with a firm nod. "I promise."

"Good."

"Besides," Fallon said. "If the rest of us don't make it, you might be our only hope. Be wise in your efforts."

"The sword's blade should protect you, too," Ivan told her. "I'm sure Nick told you about the materials it's made of." He glanced at Nick, who nodded. "Problem is that Demonic energy will try at all times to cancel out the blade's light. That's why it takes a strong heart and an even stronger faith to keep it lit among the darkness."

Danuba gazed at him. Ivan was perhaps the most beautiful of the Lycans, or perhaps even all eight of them. She, being a girl, couldn't help herself in what she thought of boys, even immortal ones.

Then she thought of Kyle. Her friend… hosting a Demon. The thought made her shudder, and she turned away, but no one seemed to notice.

"So now that everyone's acquainted," Nick said, moving to the door, "I'm gonna go get the rest of the Lycans. Which of you guys is gonna get the rest of us Vampires?"

Brent nodded toward him. "I got it." And out the door he went.

Daniel stood beside Nick, "I'm going with you to get the Wolves. They need to see both of us so they believe you."

Stan frowned at the cocoa-haired Vampire. "I thought you said both groups get along."

"Most of us," said Nick. "But that doesn't mean they all trust each other. Don't worry, though, they just need to know we're fighting a Demon and they'll be happy to help, trust or no trust." He turned to Fallon, the blond blue-eyed Vampire. "Would you be okay taking the humans with you to North Dakota? We'll need them rested and ready for the war, and it won't be long before the darkness gets here and the Demons start destroying everything. Half the country's probably covered by now."

Fallon's azure eyes were a glare. "What good would it do to have them there rather than here?"

"North Dakota is one of the last places Amphade will look for any of us. I plan on keeping our forces there until we find an open chance to attack."

"And when is that?"

Nick fell silent. "I'm not sure yet. But if any of us think of something, we'll let each other know. You can do that, though, right? Take them to Fargo or something?"

The blonde heaved a sigh. "I suppose. Don't keep me there too long, Nick, or I'll get bored." His deep oceanic eyes flicked to the fourth graders.

"Andy, Renn, and Ivan will go with you."

"What about Spike?"

"He's going with Brent. Didn't you notice he's gone?"

Fallon and the fourth graders looked to where Spike once stood. Sure enough, even his clothes weren't there.

"No, I guess I didn't…" growled the blond Vampire.

"So we'll meet you in Fargo. Is that okay?"

"Sure. Why not?"

Nick turned around. Ivan, Andy, and Renn were right behind him. "You guys are going with Fallon and the humans to North Dakota. Wait there for me and Daniel and Brent while we get the armies. Once we join you there, we'll move in for the attack on Amphade in Colorado."

Kenny leaned to Stan, "Psst... where's North Dakota?"

Stan rolled his eyes.

When Fallon said nothing in response to his friend, Nick and Daniel led the exiting of the cottage. Numbly the fourth graders followed. Nick, Renn, and Fallon all had sweatshirts on now, their hoods up and their hands inside their sleeves to protect from the shining sun.

Kenny trotted up beside the blond Vampire. "So is your car as awesome as What's-His-Face's?"

Fallon didn't look at him. He kept walking, but a low grumble that could've been either a reply or a nasty remark escaped his lips beneath the hood.

They came upon a metallic blue Ford Taurus, where Fallon ordered "Get in," while he entered the driver's seat.

Kenny went in first. He wanted shotgun, but Fallon's cold glare sent him into the back beside Danuba. Stan shut the door just as the engine started, and before they had a chance to buckle their seat belts, the Vampire was speeding off like a bullet out of a rifle, Renn's black Chevy Impala, Andy and Ivan inside, right behind him.

**---**

**Told you it was a long chapter, lol! Well, I hope you still like this story :) Hopefully Chapter Eighteen will be up within the month of June. I'm dedicating most of my time to this, so I think that goal could be reached! Please leave reviews, and no, this idea isn't based entirely onTwilight, but somewhat from the Mortal Instruments series (Cassandra Clare) and mostly my own brain. Hooray for ideas!**

**So thanks for those who review and hey, thanks a BUNCH for even reading! Especially those who were willing to stick with me after that long time that the ideas were dormant, it makes me feel happy :D Okay, I'll stop ranting now lol see you for Chapter Eighteen!**


	18. Fargo

**Chapter 18 is here! I realize that this story may have become less interesting since Kyle got possessed, but oh well, he'll come back eventually, don't you worry :) As for this chapter, well... you gotta read it lol! Anyway, I won't talk forever like I usually do. Hope you like this chapter, I think it's kinda boring but it'll get better, I promise! And for those wondering-- the sixth graders are NOT done yet! They will return, by all means. Their war wasn't over! Okay, I guess... here's Chapter Eighteen.**

A four minute drive brought them to the Minnesota-North Dakota border, where Fallon slowed the car considerably down. The sun was gone behind the darkness that obscured the sky due to Amphade's growing rule. Though this provided an advantage against the sun's effect on Fallon, the sheer happenstance behind the darkness was the thing they had to stop.

"Awwwwww," moaned an unhappy Kenny. "Why'd you stop going a gazillion miles an hour?"

"I don't want to draw any Demonic attention to us," Fallon said in his quiet voice.

Stan peered out the window at the flat prairie they'd entered. "Where are we going?"

Fallon took a moment before he replied, "My hometown."

The car drove quietly along the highway. In the distance, a faint glow lit the darkened horizon, which they all recognized as city lights.

"How big is Fargo?" asked Danuba, who was nervously running a hand through her pale hair.

"It's medium-sized," Fallon's tone wasn't so harsh or foreboding when he spoke to her. "Nowhere near any Chicago or San Diego, but it's the biggest city in the state."

"North Dakota's a state!?" yelped Kenny, as though it were the biggest shock in the world.

Fallon gave him an icy glare that made him deathly quiet. (A/N: I LOVE ND!!! :] ) Stan rolled his eyes but didn't say anything that he thought would anger Fallon further. He definitely wasn't too appreciative of Kenny at the moment.

They entered Fargo not even ten minutes later. Ten minutes of tense silence during which no one spoke. The city gleamed bright with lights and signs, cars drove and stopped where designated, people stood outside their homes or on the sidewalks around, staring uncomprehendingly at the black sky.

Fallon took a calm turn onto a darker street, where he stopped the car, after which he didn't move a muscle.

"Hey, dude, um… what the f--" Kenny was abruptly cut off by Fallon's hand slamming the steering wheel. He eased back into his seat beside Stan, who leaned forward.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked, curious. "It didn't make a sound."

"It's a signal."

"For what?"

"To let the others know we're here," Fallon gripped the wheel tightly in his hands. "They're waiting for us."

"Who're the others?" Kenny reappeared next to his friend.

"The other Vampires," the blond teen replied, clearly aggravated by Kenny's constant questions and random comments.

"But," Stan inquired, "I didn't hear anything. Is the horn broken?"

"Brent designed the horn to be at such a frequency that only the Undead and the Lycans are able to hear it. Even Demons can't hear it because their ears are set just below yours as far as tone goes."

"What?" Kenny sputtered.

Fallon sighed in exasperation. "You know how you humans can't hear dog whistles?"

"Yeah, so?"

"That's how this horn works."

"Oh… So when are they--"

Something dropped to the ground in front of the car's front. Kenny and Stan flew back in fright, but Fallon's mouth twisted into a crooked smirk.

The figure stood upright, allowing a face to come into view. His short hair was sandy-tan, his eyes cobalt blue and his face masculine and tan. He was tall and lanky like Nick, but his skin was tan like Fallon. His arms were slightly bulky at the biceps where his muscles were well-toned.

"Wh-who is that?" stammered a nervous Kenny.

Fallon's smirk didn't fade. "Jeremiah."

The boy outside nodded sharply, after which he bent and, with the speed of a pouncing tiger, he leaped out of sight.

The three young kids crammed against the window to watch in awe as Jeremiah scaled the wall of a nearby building like a giant human spider. Except he obviously was not human.

"Wow!" cried Kenny, ecstatically impressed. "Is he a Vampire or a Werewolf?"

"A Vampire, obviously," Fallon said with the tone that implied obviousness. "We're the ones talented enough to do that."

Stan watched intently as Jeremiah swung himself gracefully onto the roof of the building and disappeared.

"Can _you_ do that?" Kenny gushed.

Fallon snorted. "Of course. In fact, I would be if you three weren't here." He opened the door. "Let's go. He's getting others to help you guys get up there."

"Wait…" Stan said once he was standing outside the Ford Taurus. "'Help us get up there?'"

"I like where this is going!" Kenny shook his fists eagerly. "Hey, are there any female Vampires?"

The blond Vampire gave him a twisted look, questioning the true meaning of the statement and the reason it had been stated.

Kenny shrugged offhandedly. "Just wondering. Not like I wanted to hook up with one of them or anything…"

"Believe me, they wouldn't be interested," growled Fallon.

At that moment two other bodies dropped from the air just beside him. One was Jeremiah, and the other they recognized as Renn, the pale curly-haired one with the brown eyes.

"Any Undead who's every Undead is waiting on the roof," said Jeremiah in a voice that sounded like a man from the coast of a California beach; his words were low and slurred together, like a real beach bum. "We're waiting for Dan and the Wolves, but for some reason no one thinks they'll show up."

"They'll be here," Fallon said bluntly, then turned to the fourth graders. "We're taking you onto the roof. No questions, comments, or complaints. One of you, get on my back."

Kenny took a step forward.

"Not you."

He pinched his face into a scowl.

Fallon rolled his blue eyes. "Just go with Renn."

Shrugging again, Kenny went to the shortest of the three, where Renn bent down to allow Kenny to take hold of his shoulders. Fallon took Stan while Danuba hesitantly climbed onto Jeremiah's back. The Vampires stood, the humans clinging to their necks, and with the same catlike speed Jeremiah had performed only minutes earlier, they were scaling the brick wall of the building.

Stan was awestruck at the sheer thought of it. He watched, amazed, as Fallon's hands barely gripped the stone, his feet just nicked the wall, and yet he was careening up the wall like a professional mountain climber stepping onto a cardboard box. The wind hit him in a rush once they were above the other structures.

"This is awesome!" Kenny shrieked from Renn's back. "It's like riding King Kong!"

"Are you saying I'm fat?!" Renn yelled.

Jeremiah intervened, "Yeah, you're a cow!"

At the top of the building, the three Vampires smoothly swung over the ledge and landed upon the roof. Numbly the two male fourth graders dropped from their backs.

Danuba carefully touched down on the rooftop and then looked up at Jeremiah. "Thank you,"

He smiled a warm smile at her. "You're welcome."

"Danuba!"

She swung around at the sound of Stan's voice. Hurrying to his side, she was astounded at what they saw.

Almost the entire rooftop was full of human-looking figures that were, in all actuality, Vampires.

"Dude…" breathed Kenny. "You'd never be able to tell they're bloodsuckers unless they walked up and told you to your face."

Fallon shot him a harsh look. "Do not call us that."

"What? Bloodsucker?"

"Yes. Don't say that, or no one will help you." He moved off into the crowd.

Stan elbowed Kenny harshly.

The blonde hissed, "Ow, what was that for?"

"Don't piss anybody off! We need them to help save Kyle."

And Kenny was silent.

Renn and Jeremiah were going after Fallon, and Jeremiah stopped to gesture for the humans to follow. Reluctantly the fourth graders treaded after him.

Through the many bodies they walked. Plenty of Vampires turned their heads to either glance or glare curiously or irritably at them as they passed. Kenny actually pulled his hood up perhaps so they wouldn't see his face in the dark. But he forgot their sight was much better than he thought.

"Fallon!" A dark-haired girl with brown eyes, fair skin, and freckles on her nose, hurried through the crowd with the grace of a ballerina. She was grinning hugely as she ran to the blond Vampire and threw her arms around Fallon's neck. His arms went around her waist, a smile forming on his face, and they embraced.

"Who's that?" Danuba asked Jeremiah, who was walking next to her.

"That's Emilia, Fallon's girlfriend," the sand-blond Vampire explained. "They've been dating for a few months now."

"Hey!" a recognizable feminine voice called out through the crowd. "Danuba! Is that you?"

Danuba turned at the sound of her name. Past a group of Vampires pushed a young woman. She looked fifteen, with long tawny gold-tinted hair that fell to her shoulder blades, inquisitive brownish-hazel eyes, a curved and developed figure, and a pretty drawn face. Such familiar beauty was astonishing for Danuba.

"Oh my gosh! Medina!" the fourth grade girl cried, hurrying away from Jeremiah to give the Vampire woman a hug. "I was wondering why you were gone all the time! You're a…?"

Medina nodded. "I'm a Vampire."

Danuba stared up at her with wide honey-colored eyes.

Stan had seen the whole reunion and rushed to Danuba's side, "Who is this?"

"Stan, this is my cousin Medina. She's Undead." The female human looked uncertainly at the Vampire girl. "I just found that out."

"You seem so calm,"

"I'm not, but…"

Medina cut in, "Are you two okay? Has anyone given you any trouble?"

"Not yet," Stan answered. "Nick and his friends say they'll help us destroy the Demon King, Amphade."

"I heard about that," Medina said somberly, tugging a lock of long hair behind her ear. "I'd been wondering why the moon was not out, and why lightning was crossing the sky, and why the animals were acting strange."

"Animals? You mean the Wolves?"

"No, I mean the actual animals, like dogs and birds? They all react angrily or eagerly when there's Demonic activity. All over the world, probably every mutt or monkey is screaming, wishing they could kill Amphade themselves." She sounded melancholy. "But they know they can't do anything."

"Sure they could!" Danuba said shrilly.

"Well, they could, but… Look; this isn't really the place to talk. We're having a meeting in a few minutes. You should follow me somewhere quieter."

"But we can hear you fine right here," Stan pointed out.

Medina's eyes narrowed. "Well, let's move anyway. The view's killing me." She flashed a quick glance over her shoulder, but it was indefinite what she was looking at.

Danuba tried to look past her to see.

A sorrowful expression took over Medina's pretty face. "Come on, let's go. I need to get away from here." She strolled quickly between them off toward some corner of the building.

Confused, the two fourth graders followed her.

She was leaning over the ledge, her head in her arms, her brown eyes glittering in the flash of red lightning that lit the sky.

"What's wrong?" asked Danuba, putting a caring hand on her cousin's shoulder.

"It's nothing. But here, what were you saying before we moved?"

"We weren't saying anything," said Stan. "But I think I know what you were looking at."

Medina's head snapped up to see him clearly.

When she spoke no words, Stan knitted his eyebrows. "You saw Fallon and his girlfriend, didn't you?"

The Vampire girl's eyelids squeezed shut, a look of sheer agony imprinted upon her. "I tried!" she whined. "I tried so hard to get him back!"

"What?"

Danuba scowled. "If you tried, then he's not worth it."

"You don't understand! It's not just Fallon! Because I can't have him, because he's already… well, I've… got someone else on my mind, trying to shut him out."

The human girl was astounded. "Who?"

Medina was quiet.

"Is it a Vampire?"

Still she was quiet.

"He's not?"

The Undead girl glanced weakly at her cousin. "No,"

"Is he human?"

"He's… a Werewolf."

"Oh, wow," Stan said softly. "A Vampire who loves a Werewolf…"

Medina suddenly shot him a furious look. "I never said I loved him!"

"Sorry, sorry!" The fourth grade boy winced back, fearing the potential sight of Medina's sharp front fangs. "I didn't know! It's just… I don't know, kinda strange."

"You don't think I know that?" The Vampire girl put her head in her arms. "I have no chance with him anyway… he likes some other Vampire girl."

"A Werewolf loves a Vampire…" murmured Stan.

"…They even dated once, and now she hates him," Medina went on, her voice trembling. "I wish I could have something like Fallon and Emilia, but… it just feels so impossible…"

A shadow cast over them during the next flash of red lightning. Stan and Danuba both looked at who it was, but Medina refused to tear her gaze from the horizon.

"Hey," said a soft tenor voice.

This did cause Medina to turn her head.

There stood Renn, his hands in his pockets, the slight breeze making his coffee-colored curls twitch on his head. His pale skin stood out stunningly against the darkness of his hair and rich brown eyes.

"I saw you walk over here and you looked pretty upset," he said, tugging his baggy jeans higher up on his thin hips. "Is everything okay?"

Medina's breath seemed to catch in her throat. "Kind… of…"

He leaned over beside her. "Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

She shrugged.

"I might be able to help."

"No, you couldn't…" She looked away from him. "There's no way to fix it."

"Can I at least know what it is?"

"No…"

He dropped his gaze, resigned, and stood up again. "Well, if you want someone to talk to, come find me." Scratching his curls, he loped away into the crowd without so much as a backward glance.

Medina whirled around unexpectedly, "Wait, Renn--" But he was out of sight, gone between the many Vampires that stood speaking to each other in their groups.

Danuba would've talked but a loud voice sounded above all others.

"Fellow Undead," someone announced. "We're here today because we are joining forces with the Wolves to battle a Demon." A strange murmuring went up through the Vampires at the mention of the Lycans. Above several heads Stan was able to spot Nick perched proudly upon a wooden crate, speaking resonantly, "The power of Amphade has grown to full-force. As you can see from the sky, the wrath of Hell has spread unto the Earth, and we, the Undead, along with a small group of three human children and the Werewolves, could be the world's last hope."

The way he was standing, his head held high, his blue eyes reflecting every flash of red lightning that flickered by above, his jaw set with the determination of a country leader; Danuba had to admit, he looked amazing.

She nudged her cousin, "Nick's really good-looking."

"I know," the Vampire girl agreed, somehow feeling a little better. "He's absolutely gorgeous." She searched the crowd for a certain person, but when she couldn't find him, she stared at Nick.

A strange mournful noise echoed through the air. It sounded like a low flute, yet as it got louder, it became obvious to anyone who heard it.

Nick turned his blue gaze from the horizon to the Vampires that stood watching him. He smirked and crossed his arms, "The Wolves are here."


	19. Departure

**Hey, Mandy here. I know my last chapter wasn't all that great, and personally neither is this one, but the action is coming up, just to let you all know. This is the prelude to the war, so keep reading! And please review, I'd love some more feedback :) Here's Chapter 19:**

Joseph Roan had seen more than any memory should allow. He'd been through historical wars and times of peril, acting as human as possible, while the only ones who knew he was Undead were his gang and his twin brother, Joshua. He was over a hundred years old, yet his seventeen-year-old appearance remained.

With his sharp inhuman hearing he listened to the sounds of the Vampires greeting the Wolves on the rooftop above him. The room around him seemed so empty—a dusty leather sofa, a few antique chairs, a painting or two on the wall—though the unfamiliar setting did not unnerve him. He stood quiet and still as he stared out the window at the darkening skies.

He'd seen it all before.

There was a knock on the door, but it didn't even cause him to flinch. He simply parted his lips in a simple, "Yes?"

The handle clicked, and the heavy wood door creaked open. A cocoa-brown head peeked inside with inquiring silver-blue eyes. "We brought the Colorado survivors to meet with you, Joe."

"Good. Bring them inside, Nickolys."

Nick pushed the door wide enough to allow Stan, Danuba, and Kenny into the big room. The fourth graders stopped cautiously after a few steps, standing like scared kittens before a massive Rottweiler.

In a sense, they almost were.

With a pale hand, Joseph beckoned to them, "Don't be afraid. Go ahead and sit. I just want to talk with you."

They hesitantly took places on the couch. Stan inspected Joseph from top to bottom, from his silky silver-blond hair and tired-looking blue eyes down his tall muscled figure to his black shoes. _No tail,_ he noted. _He's a Vampire._

Nick stood, arms folded across his bony chest, leaning against the wall below a mounted deer head. He pulled the pocketknife from his belt and began flipping it open and closed. "These children know the boy whose body was possessed by Amphade."

Joseph's eyes narrowed when they flicked to see the humans. For a long time he did not speak; he merely studied the appearance of each fourth grader in ominous silence.

Kenny broke it. "It's true. Our friend Kyle was, like, all red-eyed and black-skinned and just--!" He began making hissing noises and claw-like hand motions to illustrate his point. "Then next thing we know, he's all turning our friends into crows."

Joseph raised an eyebrow. Nick slid the blade across his thumb without an upward glance. Stan nodded in agreement with Kenny's story. Danuba stared aimlessly at the floor.

At last Joseph spoke. "Your depiction of the situation makes little sense, but… I believe you."

Nick's jaw nearly dropped.

Stan removed his hat and smoothed down his messed black hair. "So can you defeat him? Amphade, I mean?"

Joseph's deep blue eyes were unfocused. In the dark light of the room, he almost appeared a white and gray shadow, and a flash of red lightning from outside lit his outline in crimson light, giving him a spooky glow. "I can't guarantee he can be defeated," he said in a low voice. "But I believe he can be imprisoned." His head darted up, his bangs falling across his eyebrows. "Where are the rest of your friends, Nickolys?"

"They're up there keeping the meeting under control," Nick replied, snipping a thread from his shirt. "You know how some of us get toward the Wolves."

"I need a few of them here. They must hear this plan so they can explain it to the rest of you."

"Why can't you tell _me_? I could explain it just as easily as Brent or Dan could."

"Not to be offensive, but you're not exactly reliable with the repetition, as I found out over in Iraq."

Nick snorted. "Whatever, dude. Who am I supposed to 'summon'?" He dramatized with his fingers.

"Some smart ones, like those who are good with following directions."

Nick loped out, "Yes, your _majesty_," with a disdainful slam of the door.

Joseph stared even after he left. When he met the worried gazes of the kids, he moved slowly toward them but stopped a few steps later. "You're very brave, you know, trusting a Vampire. Not that Nick can't be trusted, but not all humans would adapt to us such beings so quickly."

"Well, a Vampire is worth trusting when you've got a Demon trying to consume the world." Stan smiled sheepishly.

"Hmm… interesting point, young human. If you don't mind me asking, what are your names?"

Stan cleared his throat, "I'm Stanley, but I prefer Stan. This is Danuba and that's Kenny."

"What's up?" Kenny greeted, nodding at the Undead.

Stan frowned at him before Joseph could reply. "'What's up'? That's what you ask a Vampire while the king of Demons is trying to destroy the entire planet's life?"

Kenny shrugged. "Just trying to be friendly."

The door reopened then, and Nick strolled back into the room, followed by Medina, who looked upset; Andy, who looked oblivious as usual; and Fallon, who wore a strange indefinable expression.

Joseph motioned for them to sit. Only Andy did.

Medina glanced at Fallon, and when he looked at her, she somberly turned her head away.

Nick swung an uncaring hand. "Here you go—some smart people."

Joseph scowled when he saw the tall raven-haired Vampire. He glanced uncertainly at Nick. "Andy?"

The cocoa-haired male shrugged. "He's my best friend; I figured he could come along."

"Okay, then… Do you all know what we're up against?"

"A Demon," Andy said bluntly. "Big deal. We've dealt with Demons before. What makes this one so different?"

"Now, see, that's where you're stupid!" Joseph almost yelled. "We're not just dealing with a Demon—we're dealing with the _king_ of Demons, Andy! There's a big difference between the ones you fought back in eighty-three and the one we're planning on fighting now!"

Andy winced. "Okay, sorry!"

"What do we do?" Danuba said meekly.

"Are you armed?" asked Joseph.

Fallon spoke, "Their weapons are in my car. But Joe, you said that Amphade can't be destroyed, but the girl is going to wield a celestial katana. She might just make the final blow."

Joseph's eyes widened. "A celestial katana? Where on earth did she get that?"

Nick ran his blade softly along his wrist, leaving no mark whatsoever. "I found it in our old weapon storage, back in Rhode Island. I told her she could use it."

Joseph moved to stand before Danuba, who gave him a kind yet frightened look. He stared down at her intently, "Then maybe I was wrong. Perhaps the fate of the planet rests upon your shoulders, Danuba."

Kenny chortled. "Heh… no pressure or anything."

Ignoring him, Joseph knelt down to meet her eyelevel. "But don't be scared of this. Your friends will be here to help you."

A muffled commotion came from above, at which they all looked up. Fallon turned and headed to the door, "I'll go see what's happening."

Once he was gone, a silence fell over them. Joseph walked back to the window and looked out briefly. He didn't turn, but he said, "Why don't you just tell him, Medina?"

The female Vampire, who had been staring at the door where Fallon had left, suddenly swung a look at Joseph. "Say what?"

"Why don't you tell him how you really feel about him?"

Medina went all shades of red. "Um… feel about who?"

"Why, Fallon, of course."

"F-Fal…" Her hands started to shake, her pulse increasing rapidly. Her bottom lip quivered like she would cry, but instead she yelled, "What would that do? He already has Emilia! All it would do is give him a reason to avoid me." The tears began to flow just after the sentence was finished.

Joseph tilted his head. "Don't be too sure. Fallon's a mystery, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any feelings toward you."

"In my wildest dreams, Joey…" she murmured, crossing her arms.

Andy watched her with intent emerald eyes. "He's blind if he can't see how cool you are."

A small smile tugged at her lips. "Thanks…"

Fallon reappeared then, "Joe, you might want to come up here. A group of Undead is having a little disagreement with the Lycans."

Growling, Joseph walked swiftly and fluidly past them all to the door, where he stopped to look back. "I may need your help, Nick."

The cocoa-haired male pushed off the wall to follow. Andy was right behind him.

The door shut softly, leaving Fallon, Medina, and the fourth graders alone. Stan, Kyle, and Danuba turned in their seats to see Fallon standing completely silent and Medina some ways away from him, sniffling and wiping her wet brown eyes.

The blond Vampire frowned when he saw her. "What's the matter?"

She ignored him.

He took a step closer. "Are you scared?"

"No," she mumbled.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Forget it, Fallon, just leave me alone."

"But--"

"Leave me alone!" She stormed past him, swung the door open so swiftly that it made a satisfactory thump against the wall, and out she walked, leaving the door gaping.

Kenny leaned over to Stan. "I don't think that's what Joey meant when he said to 'tell him how she feels'."

Fallon shot him a glare. "What did you say?"

"Nothing!" Kenny shook his head. "It's just something Joe told us."

The Vampire boy made a frustrated noise. "Come upstairs. We're leaving soon."

The fourth graders exchanged looks, then got up to follow him. They hurried up the flight of stone stairs and returned to the rooftop, where Joseph was standing in the center of the crowd, which calmed down once he raised his hands.

"Undead and Lycans," he announced, "today we put aside our differences to rise up against the Demon threat once again. Our numbers are nowhere near what they once were, but we can still destroy the Demons. For we have quite a few things that they do not have—brains, strength, and free will. Sure, they have power in numbers, but so do we. Now let us go to South Park, where the threat is sourced, and charge into battle like bulls seeing red. And we'll give them a fight they'll never forget."

Everyone on the rooftops, Undead and Lycan and human, cheered furiously at his words.

Stan, Danuba, and Kenny were being lost among the tall bodies of the nonhumans. Suddenly Fallon reached out and grabbed Stan's arm, saying, "We're going back to my car. Come with me."

They went with him to the edge of the rooftop. Looking down they saw his Ford Taurus sitting completely untouched, right where he'd left it.

"How do we get down?" asked a nervous Kenny. He was abruptly lifted from beneath his knees by Jeremiah, who swung the boy around to his back.

"I'll be facilitating that," the Vampire said with a smirk.

Stan lifted himself upon Fallon's back, and Danuba was this time raised upon the back of Nick, whom had rejoined them.

"Please keep your hands firmly on my shoulders as we commence with the plummeting," Jeremiah was saying in a deep joking voice. "And please enjoy the ride."

Altogether the three Vampires jumped from the ledge and were airborne instantly. For a split second they almost appeared to be flying. But down they surged, the updraft blowing their hair out above them. Nick was spreading his arms out on both sides of him like Batman while Danuba clutched fearfully to his neck for dear life. Jeremiah was hollering with glee, loving every second of freefall.

They hit the ground without so much as a tap of their shoes, and moved with such keen grace that for a second you could almost tell they weren't human.

Fallon stepped into the driver's seat of his car. On the passenger's side entered Jeremiah, and in the back climbed the three fourth graders. The blond Vampire rolled down his window so he could speak to Nick.

"We'll meet you there," he said. "Make sure you've got your sword. Amphade either knows or will know that we're gonna attack, so be on your guard, and be ready for anything."

"Right," Nick nodded. "See you later, dude."

Rolling the window back up, Fallon started the car, backed out of the alley, and then the Taurus went shooting like a meteorite down the street.

At first there was silence. The land passed in a blur outside the windows, though the three kids were almost used to it by now.

Stan spoke up then, "Do you love Emilia?"

Fallon didn't falter. "Yes. Why?"

The fourth grader scowled, "Nevermind."

"Why?" Fallon repeated sternly.

"Well, I know a really pretty, caring, sensitive girl who cares about you a lot more than you'd ever guess," Stan said for the sake of perhaps keeping Fallon's fangs out of his neck.

"And who might that be?"

"I'm leaving that for you to find out." Stan leaned back and crossed his arms, watching the land flash by outside.

Fallon frowned, reeling his mind for a female who might possibly fit the description. One girl did happen to cross his mind, but he shook his head, doubting it. Eventually he let it slip from his thoughts so he could focus on the task ahead.

The girl he'd thought of was Medina.


End file.
